


A Fine Line

by theantichrist420



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Gay, Hyperion, Jack being Jack, M/M, Original Character(s), Possible smut, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:40:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 33,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27891691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theantichrist420/pseuds/theantichrist420
Summary: Tate Parks is one of the best programmers in his department,(almost as good as Jack), who tends to be late to nearly everything he does. What will happen when one day he's late to a meeting with other departments that the infamous Handsome Jack attends?*This is in a time period sometime between pre-sequel and Borderlands 2. It will be slightly off the canon story.*I don't really know what I'm doing on this website tbh. I just daydreamed this story up in class one day and wanted to write it on something other than Wattpad.
Relationships: Handsome Jack (Borderlands)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 5





	1. Daily Occurrences

**Author's Note:**

> Please excuse any mistakes I make I haven't written any stories in a very long time. I hope you enjoy. :)

Tate looked at the time on his watch, heart racing a bit when he saw that he had 8 minutes to get to the other side of Helios. He sped up his pace as he swerved through the crowds of accountants, coders, and other business people. Trying not to drop the stack of papers and coffee in his hands he swiftly passed the Hub of Heroism and made it to the drop-off desk with 3 minutes to spare. "Mornin' Gladis." Tate smiled cheekily, handing her the stack of papers. "Mr. Parks how lovely to see you just barely made it. Again." The older lady grabbed the papers scolding from above her glasses. "Listen, you try getting all the way from floor 25 of tower B to here with all this." He gestures to the pile of papers now being put into a basket that takes them to the brains in mechanics. "Yet, your coworkers somehow always bring their work for the week in on. time." Gladis stamps some important documents. "Yes but, I'm still doing better than all of them ain't I?" Tate takes a sip of his sugary coffee. "I'm nearly the head of my department Gladis." "Well, if you don't get to your department in the next," She looks at her computer screen. "15 minutes then you're gonna be late." Tate looks at the watch on his wrist and takes the last sip of his coffee. "Oh shit. Thanks, Gladis. Same time next week?" Tate shouts already down half the hallway.

Already having limited time, Tate runs through the crowds of people and makes a short cut into the Hub trying to get to the elevators crowding with people. As he weaves through people he sees his friends, Rhys, Yvette, and Vaughn sitting at a table eating breakfast. Tate waves with his mechanical hand at the group not paying attention to anything in front of him. The lanky man bumps into a loader bot promptly hitting the floor with his ass from the impact. "Sorry." The loader bot extends a robotic hand to help him up. Tate grabs the robot's hand, being pulled up swiftly. "Thanks, Loader." Tate looks over to his friends dying of laughter. Tate rolls his eyes and flicks them off. He looks at the elevator filling up and makes a run for it. One person was kind enough to hold the elevator door open so Tate could squeeze in. The elevator whirrs up, taking them to their floors. 

Barely making it into the doors of the programming department, Tate clocks in and makes it to his desk cubical without being noticed by his boss. He sinks into his chair and starts on the programming for Hyperion's newest sniper rifle with a built-in silencer and faster reloading speeds. Programming became second nature to Tate. After a month of being on the job, he was already programming stuff for the New-U stations which was a hard job for most of the new programmers. After nearly 2 years he moved up through his department and has been stuck under his head of department. He knows he does great at his job but he doesn't get the recognition he deserves for the shit he puts up with being the best programmer in his department. Time flew and before Tate knew it the automated message popped up on his screen saying it was his lunch break. "Finally. Rhys owes me lunch." Tate pulls up a call list in the palm of his robotic hand. After 2 rings Rhys picks up. "Hey bro, you on break?" "Of course bro. I'll be there in a minute. You owe me lunch though." Rhys sighs and hangs up. Tate pushes himself from the desk and runs to the elevator. 

Finding his friends at the table, Tate sees Yvette already eating and Vaughn waiting patiently for the programmer. "Hey, Vaughn thanks for not letting me eat alone." Tate shoots a look at Yvette who is paying no mind to him while she scrolls on her ECHOpad and stuffing her face. "You're welcome, bro." "Where's Rhys? Trying to skip out on buying me lunch?" Tate looks around the cafe unable to see Rhys' tall head peak from the crowds of people. "I think he went to go get your food. He might be over there." Vaughn points to the long line at the sushi restaurant. Tate shrugs."I'll go find em'." Pushing through the crowd, he makes his way to the line getting angry looks from other patrons. Seeing Rhys near the front of the line he jumps beside him scaring him a bit. "Howdy." Tate laughs. Rhys grumbles, "You know I'm buying lunch for you right? I could just take that away." Tate puts his hands up in defense, "Sorry Sorry, didn't think I scared ya that bad." The taller man rolls his eyes. "Anyways, do you know what you want?" Tate looks to the menu. _Hmm, maybe the spicy crab roll. Or the salmon roll?_ Oblivious to what's happening behind him Tate takes his time trying to pick a roll.

"Uh, T-Tate. Hurry up please." Not sensing Rhys's scared tone, Tate barks back. "Give me a damn minute Rhys." _Maybe the tuna roll? Nah, that's gross._ Tate then feels a tap on his shoulder. He swings around ready to yell at Rhys. "Goddammit, Rhys let me-Oh shit." "Excuse me cupcake but you're taking too long." Tate's face goes bright red. Unable to speak in the presence of _The_ Handsome Jack, the lanky man moves over so Handsome Jack can move in front of him. "Thanks, kiddo." He turns to the worker. "Give me the special kid, and make it quick." The person behind the counter frantically gathers the pre-made food for the CEO. "H-here you go s-sir." Jack nods and takes his food. He turns around facing the still bright red Tate, "Watch your mouth, next time kid. I won't be so nice." He pats Tate's head and leaves the cafe, slowly people go back to talking filling the silence. Rhys quickly pays for salmon rolls and drags a still stunned Tate back to the table. Rhys sits Tate on the stool trying to get his attention. "Tate. Tate. Tater-tot." Rhys waves his hand in front of the stone-faced man. "Heres your food buddy." Vaughn pushes the food hoping Tate might snap out of it. Yvette then reaches across the table flicking Tate in the forehead. "Ow shit." "Thank god almost thought we lost you there." Vaughn gives a sigh of relief. "I'm good I think." "Good. Now eat before lunch is over." Yvette smiles. 

Tate runs into the programming department's doors with his drink making it to his cubical. _Safe._ "Tate Parks come to my office, please." His boss, Patrick Cortez, says over a speaker. "Spoke too soon." Tate straightens his tie, pushing back his shaggy dark brown hair, he walks to Cortez's office. Before he can even knock Cortez yells from the other side of the door. "Come in." Opening the door Tate is met with a stern face. "Sit please." Tate sits carefully trying to analyze Cortez's face. "Tate I know you have a..tendency to be just barely on time," He shifts in his chair. "But tomorrow I really, really need you to be on time. You are required to come to the Head of Department's meeting and I need you to be there on time." Tate sits back in the chair a bit shocked. "I'm not a department head though? Why is it 'required' for me to go?" He says putting up air quotes. "Well one: because you are the best in the department under me. And two: you were requested to come." "By who?" Cortez shrugs at his question. "Well, that's all I had for you. Please be on time tomorrow or it might be your job." Tate nods and goes back to his desk working until 8 pm on new gun programs. 


	2. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tate is one minute too late to the meeting and now his job and life may really be on the line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so many problems trying to write this chapter so I hope you enjoy it. :)

Tate slammed the alarm off on his ECHOpad for the 3rd time this morning. He did this most mornings as well as he dreaded this meeting he was "Required" to go to. Who even wanted him there? Why did he even have to go? Probably to just watch over the meeting for when he becomes the next head of the programming department. Yeah, probably that. Tate threw the blankets off and stretched with a loud yawn. He got up and scratched his head absent-mindedly as he trudged to the kitchen. He started the pot of coffee and walked to the bathroom, nearly tripping over clothes as he went. Tate washed his face with one hand before hooking up his mechanical one. He brushed his teeth and walked to the living room to find clothes for work. He slid on black slacks, a white button-up shirt, and his yellow tie. He grabbed a light grey button-up vest and pulled it on. "Gotta at least try to look good." He ran his flesh hand through his hair as he walked to the kitchen to fix up his very sugary coffee. Taking a few sips he looked at the time on the stove clock and nearly choked. It was 8:30 am, the meeting started at 9. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." The lanky man ran and jumped through his cluttered living to his shoes. Quickly sliding them on he grabs his key card and runs to the elevator at the end of the hall. Nearly jumping in the elevator he presses the button and taps his foot. The coffee in his system shot his anxiety up making him think that the 5-minute elevator ride was longer. 

As the doors opened he sprinted through the halls of Helios to the hub of heroism he made his way through the crowds. "Scuse me." He pushed past a group of accountants as politely as possible. "Sorry. Gotta get through." He squeezed through a small group of loader bots. Before he could make it to the elevator the doors shut. "Mother Fu-" Tate huffs and checks the time on his watch, 8:48 am. _Fuck._ After a 5 minute wait, the elevator was back and already starting to fill up. Tate hopped in and pressed a button to the conference floor waiting patiently and trying not to have a panic attack. Soon the elevator started to ascend. The second the doors opened Tate pushed through the crowd of people, getting angry looks. "Sorry," Tate mumbled. He ran down the hall looking at each room trying to find the right one. _B5, B5, where's B5. Shit, there it is._ Pushing back his hair and fixing his tie, Tate took a breath and knocked on the door. "Come in!" A voice yelled. Tate opened the door, his eyes meeting Cortez who was facepalming. "Don't just stand there Kiddo. You're already late so sit down." Tate looked to the head of the table where Handsome Jack sat, arms crossed and smirk on his face. Tate, who was probably the shade of a tomato, quickly moved to his seat next to Cortez. He tried not to stare at the CEO as he got his note pad out on his palm. "Alright, R&D you go first. Tell me what you got."

After about 45 minutes of R&D going on about the new stuff they wanted to start on Pandora, Jack looked to Cortez and Tate. "Programming, talk to me." Cortez stood up, "Well so far we have-" "Nah not you, let the kid talk." Tate looked up from his notes as Cortez sat down. He wasn't expecting to speak at this meeting. He also wasn't expecting the CEO of Hyperion to be there either. Closing his notes, Tate stood up. "W-well." Tate brushed his hair back with his hand. "Most of the department has been working on the programming for the new loader bots and its surveyors." Jack leaned back in his chair giving his full attention to Tate. "I p-personally have been working on the programming for a sniper rifle with a built-in silencer and faster reload speeds. As well as new corrosive technology for the loader bots." Tate fidgeted with the hem of his vest. "You do that all yourself cupcake?" "Y-yes, sir. I-i've also worked on the programming for the shields we now sell." Handsome Jack sits up and looks at Cortez. "You're gonna send me a file of everything he's worked on for Hyperion." "Yes, sir Handsome Jack." Cortez gulps. "Thank you, Kiddo. You can sit now." Jack smiles at Tate, his blue and green eyes meeting Tate's honey brown eyes. Tate is almost in a trance looking into Jack's eyes but he sits down and goes back to writing notes for the meeting, trying to ignore how his heart thumped hard at his ribcage. 

Nearly 2 hours later the meeting finally ended. All of the department heads slowly left the room trying not to be the last one in the room alone with Handsome Jack. "Hey kid, uh, Tate was it?" Tate turned around to Jack motioning for him to come to him. Tate quickly looked to Cortez who gave him a sad smile and left. Brushing his hair out of his face, Tate made his way to the end of the table about an arm's length away from the CEO. _Please don't kill me._ "Yes, sir?" "Take a seat kiddo." Jack smiled showing his perfect teeth. "Ya know kid, you're a real hard worker." "Th-thank you, sir." Tate smiled a bit still fidgeting with the hem of his vest. "How is it that I've never really heard about you til now?" "Well, most of the work I've done isn't always credited towards me. I think it's because I've been here for a little over 2 years and am already farther than most of them." Jack snorts. "Why do ya think that kid?" "I helped program stuff for the New-U and fast travels a month after getting here, I made it so it wouldn't glitch out and send you to random areas of Helios, and for the ones on Pandora, I made it so that after every time a bandit "dies" they get charged more money each time." Jack jumps in his chair, laughing a bit. "Holy shit that was you kid?" "Yes, sir. Now you see what I mean, no credit." "No shit." The CEO then stands up from his chair stretching his back and arms. Tate looks at his crotch for a split second before looking back up at Jack and stands up. "Well cupcake I gotta get to another shit meeting but it was good finding out who was responsible for the money grabber New-U." Tate looks at Jack's masked face, taking in every detail. He looks so much better than the posters Rhys has. And his eyes seem to sparkle even in these shitty office lights. Jack snaps next to Tate's head shaking him out of his trance. Tate's face goes beet red knowing he was caught starring too long. Jack smiles smugly putting a hand on Tate's hip. "You look cute when you're blushing pumpkin." Tate thinks his heart may actually stop. Between yesterday's interaction and now this his heart might just fly out of his chest. Jack gives the younger man's hip a squeeze, "Welp, see you around cupcake." The older man then leaves. Tate is processing what just happened while trying to ignore his hard-on in his slacks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to fully re-write this chapter after already having 3 paragraphs done because the page refreshed. It came out better than what I had previously written so I'm not terribly mad.


	3. Problems in the work place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tate starts having problems with his boss making his life a living hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an extremely long chapter and took like 3 hours to write but I hope you enjoy it!

A week has passed since the meeting with Handsome Jack and every night Tate has thought about him. How his eyes sparkled, his smile when Tate would blush, his hand on Tate's thigh. Tate thought about his hands a lot. "Tater-tot!" Rhys yelled for the sixth time, trying to get Tate's attention. "Huh?" Tate shook his head trying to push away the scandalous thoughts of Handsome Jack. "Dude what's going on with you? You just got us killed again." Tate looks over to the game over on the screen. "Sorry dude just thinking a lot." Tate puts his controller down on the coffee table and goes to the kitchen. Rhys follows the shorter man. "About what? Ever since that meeting you've been like this." Tate gets out the chips and onion dip. Tate didn't tell any of his friends about the Handsome Jack incident because it honestly didn't sound believable. Tate sighs, dipping a chip and eating it whole. "I dunno dude. I've just had a lot on my mind lately ya know? Work is stressful and all that." Holding the dip and chips, Tate goes back to the couch. "Bro I'm just worried about you that's all. You know you can always talk to me, bro." "I know, bro." Rhys fist bumps Tate. "So, ready to try this boss again?" 

Tate stood in the shower singing, some overly sexual, pop-song loudly. The ECHOpad's alarm rang, signaling he was running out of time to get to work. Getting out of the shower and drying off, Tate picked his clothes from his messy floor and finishes getting ready for another day of work. Tate does one last check to make sure he has everything and rushes off to the elevator. While waiting he thinks about Handsome Jack for the fourth time since he got up. He imagines Handsome Jack pushing him against the wall of the elevator. _"I see how you stare at me Kiddo. I know you think about me every night, jerking your pretty little cock to the thought of me. I bet you want me to take you right now huh princess?"_ Ding. Tate shakes his thoughts away and makes his way to Gladis. "Morning Gladis." Tate smiles. "Morning Mr. Parks glad to see you a bit earlier than normal." Tate hands her the stack of papers. "Yeah, Cortez has been on my ass lately so I thought today would be a good day to try to be a little early." Gladis smiles softly, "You might want to get going then, Mr. Parks." Tate waves goodbye and hurries to the hub. Tate isn't used to just walking through the hub, he looks around at the Handsome Jack banners and posters he's never noticed. _He really does live up to his name._ Tate makes it to the elevator and waits patiently. 

Hunched over at his desk, Tate worked arduously on the programming for the corrosive Loaders. Previously the other programmers had been working on this but someone made a small mistake in the numbers and Cortez threw the work at Tate. This could've been done a week ago if Cortez didn't throw this and fifty other weapon programs at him at the same time. The message popped up signaling lunchtime. Tate sat up and stretched his back out, grabbing his key card and wallet. "Where do you think you're going Mr. Parks?" Tate jumped a bit, turning to Cortez. "To lunch? It's lunchtime?" "You can't go, you have too much stuff that still needs to be turned in," Cortez said angrily with his arms crossed. "What else do I have to do Cortez? I finished all of the weapon programmings you gave me last week and turned it in today. The only thing I have left is the corrosive Loader bot problem." Just then Tate's inbox on his computer dinged repetitively. "Looks like you have more work. Get started." Cortez turned on his heel and walked to the elevators to leave for lunch. Tate huffed and sat down starting on the new fifty assignments he had. "Asshole." 

Tate squinted at the clock on his computer, 10:30 pm. The office was now empty and the only light that could be seen was coming from Tate's computer screen and desk lamp. Tate stretched, his back and neck making multiple concerning cracking noises. Sighing, Tate stood up, turning in the last thing he could for the night. Turning off the lamp, Tate made his way to the elevator to go home. Most of Helios was quite dark this time of night which scared the shit out of Tate. After leaving the hub which was the only lit up thing until his elevator, Tate cautiously made his way through the halls. The sound of his footsteps echoed loudly, opening his robotic palm, he flipped on a light. Every shadow looks terrifying like some alien was about to jump out from behind a potted plant. Tate's heart rate started to pick up when he heard footsteps coming from down the hall ahead of him. It was probably a security guard. "Shit shit shit." Tate looked around, turned off his light, and hid behind a trash can. The footsteps came closer and stopped for a split second before starting again. Tate waited for another minute before booking it to the residential elevator. 

Another day and even more work being pilled into Tate's inbox. "Fucking hell." Tate hasn't been able to go to lunch for the past few days because Cortez continues to pile, what looks like the whole department's assignments, onto Tate. Even if Tate stays through lunch and stays late he still can't keep up with the amount of work he's getting. Suddenly Tate was getting a call on his ECHOcom. "Hey, Tate where are you? You haven't been at lunch in a while, are you ok?" Vaughn sounded worried. "Hey, I'm sorry I've been really busy lately, Cortez won't let me go to lunch." "What the fuck? Why?" "He keeps piling fifty assignments on me nearly every day. I'm so backed up with work I end up leaving the office around 10 every night." Tate sighs. "Dude, why didn't you tell me? I could be delivering you food. Actually, I'm sending some to you right now." Vaughn went quiet for a moment, "And done. But seriously dude you need to file a complaint or something, maybe talk to him." Tate brushed his hand through his hair, "I know he's just been really on edge since that meeting and I don't know why." A bot showed up next to Tate with a bag of food. "Thank you," The bot nodded and zoomed away. "Thanks for the food bro. Anyways I gotta get going before-" "Mr. Parks come to my office please." Cortez said over a speaker. "Shit, bye Vaughn, thank you again." Tate tapped the phone call off and went to Cortez's office. 

"Yes, sir you wanted to see me?" Tate stood at Cortez's door. "Have a seat." Tate sat in the chair across from Cortez, "Tate can you tell me why the corrosive loader bot programs haven't gotten to the mechanics yet?" Tate's eyes shot open. _Oh fuck._ "I-I must've forgotten about them, sir. I'm sorry. The other work got in the w-way and I-" "Are you telling me you can't do your job, Mr. Parks?" "N-no sir I-I mean yes sir I can. You've just given me a lot of work lately and it keeps piling over my other stuff. I keep having to work really late and I-" "Mr.Parks you might lose your job if you don't keep up." Cortez gives a sinister smile. _Mother fucker._ Tate stands up. "You're doing this shit on purpose. You're trying to get me fired aren't you?" Cortez still smiling, stands up, "I have no idea what you're talking about Tate, if you don't calm down I'll have to call security." "You asshole! Something happened after that meeting, and now you're being an ass to me." Tate swung at Cortez, hitting him directly in the nose. "You son of a bitch!" Tate jumped across the desk tackling the older man. "You conniving sack of shit." With each word, Tate punched the man in the face, getting more and more blood on his hands. Unbeknownst to Tate, Cortez had hit a security call button before being tackled. Tate kept punching over and over, more blood splattered across his face. Soon two guards picked up Tate by his shoulders, dragging him out of the office. Cortez laughed as he was dragged out. "Let me go! Let me fucking go!" The butt of a gun hit Tate in the face knocking him out. 

A few hours later, Tate woke up on the floor of a jail cell. "Fucking hell," Tate's hand flew up to his head which was pounding. Tate looked around at the other empty cells. "Hey. Is anyone there? Hello?" Heavy footsteps approached the cell. "Oh good, you're awake. Thought my guard over there killed ya." Tate looked up to see Handsome Jack who was crouching down to be eye level with him. "I would've had to kill him for killing such a pretty face like you." The cell door opened, Jack stood up and stuck his hand out. Hesitantly Tate took it. Jack pulled Tate up, the younger man nearly fell over. "Woah be careful there cupcake." Jack braced him up and held onto his shoulders. "Are you gonna kill me or fire me?" Jack let out a loud laugh. Walking them slowly down the hallway and past the guard. "What why would I do that kid?" "Because I beat the shit out of my boss." Jack laughed again. "Yeah, I saw the tape. You pack one hell of a punch cupcake. Left his face all broken and bloody." Jack smiled at Tate. "Okay well if I'm not being killed or fired then why'd you come here?" "Damn you ask a lot of stupid questions kiddo." Jack pulled them into an elevator, Tate leaned against the wall.

"I got your cute ass from the cell after I was called by security. Now, normally when I'm called down there I just airlock people or kill em there. But," The elevator doors opened and Jack helped Tate walk down the hallway. Tate looked around and saw a secretary sitting at a desk and a little robot cleaning the floors. "When they showed me the tape from his office, I couldn't stop laughing. The way you jumped over the table and beat the shit out of him." Jack was laughing loudly again. "Friggin' hilarious." Jack paused for a moment, "Hey, Megan cancel any meetings I had for today and put em for tomorrow." The secretary looked up from her computer quickly, "Yes, sir Handsome Jack." Jack walked them both through large doors into a huge office. "Holy shit." Jack walked over to his desk putting his arms out. "Welcome to my office sweetcheeks." Tate walked slowly up the steps leading to the desk. The younger man's eyes were fixated on the huge window looking out on Elpis. "Best view in the whole damn station." Tate walked to the window looking down at the scared moon. "I've never seen Elpis this way, it's so much prettier from up here." Jack looked up and down at the younger man. "Have a seat cupcake we gotta talk." Tate walked to the chairs in front of Jack's desk and sat down. _Even these are better than the chairs at my desk._ The older man sat in his chair, sinking into the soft material. Kicking his feet up and leaning back, "So, kid, how would you like to be the head of your department?" Tate snapped out of his daze. "The head of the programming department? Why?" "Well, one, I spaced your old boss," Tate smirked. "And two, you're really good at your job and I don't say that often cupcake." "That asshole deserved what he got." Tate crossed his arms and sat back. "I like your style princess. Anyways, with this promotion, you get to go to every head of departments meeting to see me," He winked. "And you get a pay raise and all that jazz. So, what do ya say, kiddo? I hope it's a yes otherwise you're just cute with no brains and that would be unfortunate." Tate looked at Handsome Jack happily, "I'll take it." 


	4. The brighter side of Promotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tate is adjusting to his new promotion and all of it's benefits.

"Why is your apartment so trashed and why are you moving?" Yvette walked over a second pile of clothes. Tate sunk into the chair he was sat on. "Yvette don't be rude." Vaughn hit her arm lightly. "What? I'm just asking." "It's fine Vaughn, if y'all are gonna help me move then you'd at least need to know why." Yvette, Rhys, and Vaughn sat on the clothing covered sofa. "You guys know I have depression and all that. There's been one too many times Rhys had to come over and stop me while I was having an episode." Rhys gives a soft smile. "That's the main reason for this mess but I'm sure Vaughn told you that The past like two weeks I've been working stupid late and been overloaded on work." Tate brushed his hair out of his face, "Yesterday, Handsome Jack gave me a promotion." The trio stared at Tate in shock. "The Handsome Jack gave you a promotion?" Yvette said. "And you didn't die!" Vaughn exclaimed. "You're just as surprised as I am. I mean considering he brought me to his office from a jail cell-" "Wait a jail cell? Why were you in Jail?" Rhys crossed his arms. "Oh heh well..I beat the shit out of Cortez. He was trying to get me fired and I lost my shit." "Well, what happened to him?" "Jack spaced him." They all still looked very confused and shocked. "Details now. All of em." Yvette sat back. 

Tate's new apartment was a bigger than his last one. A bigger bathroom, better and bigger kitchen, better bed. Better everything really. Tate took a long, steamy shower while getting ready for work. As the hot water cascaded down his back, Tate thought about Handsome Jack. His big strong hands that kept him up when they walked. Tate imagined Jack's hands tightly gripping his thighs as his legs were wrapped around the older man's waist. Tate's flesh hand wandered down his torso as he leaned against the cold shower tile. Tate's thoughts raced as he imagined Jack thrusting into him repetitively, leaving hard bruises on his thighs. Tate gripped his hard dick, thinking about what he wanted Jack to do to him. Tate hissed at the needed friction of his hand moving up and down. "Fuck Jack." Tate imagined Jack leaving dark hickeys across his neck and shoulders. His hand wrapped around Tate's throat, his cock roughly pounding into him over and over. "Oh fuck!" Tate's pace quickened as he felt the heat build in his stomach. "P-please Jack." His mind imagining Jack thrusting sloppily into Tate before cumming hard with a loud growl. "Ah Jack!" Tate soon came on his chest and hand. Slumped against the wall he finished his shower and got ready for work. 

Tate walked into his new office, that was cleaned of Cortez's blood, and sat down ready to work on his new programming project. He worked for hours, programming the new constructors to have shields that wouldn't break after two hits. Soon enough it was time for lunch, he waited patiently for everyone to leave and followed behind the last person. Tate met up with Rhys, Vaughn, and Yvette at their table for lunch. "So, how's your first day as department head?" Vaughn questioned. "Pretty good so far. Less stressful but I'm sure that'll change within a month. At least the pay raise is worth it." "Maybe this weekend we can have a friend's night at your new apartment." Rhys suggested. "If I'm not busy then yeah we can. I'm gonna go get in line for my food y'all." Tate walked to the line to the burger place and waited patiently. Before Tate made it to the register he got a message from a Megan Weeks. 'Please remember there is a meeting this Friday scheduled in conference room A2. Be there sharply by 9 am.' "Didn't think another meeting was scheduled that soon?" The young man shrugged it off and bought his food, finishing off lunch. 

Friday came faster than Tate thought it would. He tried hard to go to sleep the night before to make sure he wouldn't be late. Tate got up at 7:30 am, the earliest he's ever gotten up since he's worked on Helios. He showered, brushed his teeth, and got dressed all before 7:50 am. "Coffee? Check." He picked up the coffee, looking around, "Keycard? Where is it?" His apartment wasn't as cluttered and dirty as his old one but some how that made it harder for him to keep up with things. HIs clutter was an "Organized clutter" as he put it. "There you are! Check." He grabbed his papers for the meeting and his papers to turn in to Gladis. He looks around one more time and leaves. Leaving the residential elevator, he makes his way to Gladis. "Mornin Gladis." She smiles brightly and looks at him over her glasses. "Well, good morning Mr. Head of the Programming department." Tate smiles giddily and hands her his papers for the week, thankfully not mixing them up with his meeting papers. "You found out." "Of course I did. I'm glad to see you actually getting the recognition you deserve. You may have a problem with being late but you are a great worker." Tate smiles more and checks his watch. "Well I ought to get going, got a meeting with the Mechanics team I think. Have a good day Gladis, see you next week."

Tate makes his way through the hub as he does every morning, waving to his friends eating breakfast. Tate being the absolute klutz he is, bumps into a person. Tate goes to pick up his dropped papers. "Ow, fuck I'm sorry." The person turns around fast and angrily, "Who the hell bumped into me?" _Is that?_ Tate looks up to an angry Handsome Jack who has yet to look down. When he finally does his face softens. "Oh it's just you kiddo." He extends his hand out. Tate grabs it, being pulled up. "Thank you." Tate blushes as he looks at the people around him, staring him down. "You know you're very clumsy." Jack looks down on the younger man. Tate's face heats up and turns a darker shade of pink. "I-I know. It's one of my many frustrating qualities." Jack looks around at the people staring, "What are you all looking at? Get to work!" The workers around the pair start to scramble away. "I-I have a meeting to get to." Tate looks up at Jack, trying not to get lost in his eyes. "Oh really?" Jack smiles and starts walking to the main elevator. "So do I cupcake." Tate quickly follows behind and gets in the elevator. Jack presses the conference room button.

There's an awkward silence between the two. You think Jack would know how to start a conversation but it's almost as if he wants Tate to talk. "S-so," Tate clears his throat. "What meeting do you have to go to?" Jack snorts a laugh, "Meeting with the mechanics." "Oh really. Me too." Then it hits him. "Oh wait." "You know for someone so smart you're pretty dumb sometimes." Tate blushed again. He looked at Jack who was leaning against the elevator wall, he was messing with pocket watch. Tate is surprised he having these small up close moments with Handsome Jack. But it gives him the chance to take in every detail of him, like how he always stands in an offensive position, he always has to face you, or how his mask his a lighter shade than his skin tone. Jack notices Tate staring and smirks. "You're staring at me like you want to jump me kiddo." Tate's face goes red as he looks away. Jack walks to the younger man, towering over him. "If you want to kiss me so bad all you had to do was ask, Kitten." The elevator dings and Jack backs away laughing, leaving Tate to adjust himself quickly to get to his meeting. Tate comes in just moment after Jack, sitting in the last open chair which happened to be right next to the CEO.

"Alright programming go ahead." One of the mechanics grumbles. Tate stands up, handing a paper to each person. "As you'll see on this paper, bandits lately have been taking down our constructors faster than they can make Loaders." "But we just put shields on those damn things." One of the mechanics throws down the paper. "Y-yes you did but they were faulty and broke after 2 hits. You waste more money having to make new constructors than you do making a new shield." The grumpy mechanic interrupts Tate again. "You spend more money making those stupid shields and programming the damn things." Tate balled his fists. "If you listened to me, I just said that you waste more money trying to make new constructors each time instead of just making and programming a new shield that'll last longer." The mechanic laughed at Tate. "Kid you have no clue what you're talking about." Jack angrily adjusted himself in his chair. "If you could get your head out of your ass you would realize it's my whole job to know what I'm talking about." Tate spat back. "Alright now you just watch your mouth kid." The mechanic stood from his chair. "All I'm asking from your team is to make new shields that my team will program so the constructor doesn't die and waste our money." Tate's voice raised, Jack could see him getting angrier at the mechanic. Jack's hand rested on his gun in it's holster, he could end this now but he wanted to see how Tate handled it. The mechanic laughed again. "Why should I listen to you, you're a kid." "Alright that's it." Tate slammed his fists down, jumping on the table.

The group of mechanics were now laughing loudly at Tate. Jack stood up and held Tate back, dragging him off the table. He jerked and squirmed in Jack's hands trying to get out to hurt the mechanic. "You will listen to him if I tell you to won't you?" Jack spat at the group of mechanics, still holding back an angry Tate. Their laughter immediately stopped. "Yes, sir Handsome Jack." "Good that means you'll do what he says and it'll be done within the next week! Now go!" The group stumbled out of the room. Jack sat Tate down on the large table and put his hands on his shoulders. "Hey, cupcake you calm now?" Jack scanned Tate's face. Taking deep breaths in and out, Tate finally calmed down. "Yeah I'm good." Jack sighed and sat in his chair in front of Tate. "You have one hell of a temper on you, pumpkin." Tate chuckled. "That's funny coming from you." Tate processed his words quickly, "Shit, I'm sorry." Jack laughed and looked up at Tate. "You're having lunch with me kiddo let's go." Tate hopped off the table and followed Jack to the fast travel station. "Faster than those stupid elevators." "I've never used one before. Not even on Elpis." "Really? You reprogrammed the damn thing, how come you've never used one?" Tate just shrugs. Jack pulls the younger man over closely and types in the code for his office. The world around Tate pixelated and warped. Within seconds they were in the hallway to Jack's office. Tate's legs were wobbling so he braced on the older man. "Oh yea, forgot it does that to new users." Jack chuckled. The pair walked down the hall, passing the secretary. "Megan, order my lunch and- what do you want cupcake?" Tate's brain blanked for a second before responding, "Spicy salmon rolls and a cola?" Megan nodded and went back to typing on her computer. The pair walked into Jack's office and sat at his desk. "While we wait, tell me about yourself cupcake." 


	5. A history to learn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Handsome Jack wants to know more about Tate.

"While we wait, tell me about yourself cupcake." The older man leans back in his chair, legs propped up on the desk. "Well, what do you wanna know?" Tate leans back comfortably. "Anything. Where you're from, how you got to Helios, how you're weirdly good at programming." Tate sighs. He hasn't talked about his past or much of himself in a very long time. "Where to start heh. Well, I was born on Elpis and lived there most of my life," Tate remembers living on the cold moon and the people he lived with. "My parents died to some scavs about a month or so after I was born and some people in a nearby base found me." Tate shifted uncomfortably. "I was uh..traded around between scavs and people like that up until I was five." The traumatic memory flashed in his mind. Five-year-old Tate stood over a lunatic's dead body, covered in blood with a knife in hand. The lunatic tried to kill him as an outlaw watched and laughed. Tate ran as far as he could to a nearby empty storage tank and hid. Tate shook his head and continued with his story. "I ended up escaping them and some people from Concordia found me hidden in an old storage tank and brought me back with them. For five years I moved around on the streets, protecting myself. This..really nice lady took me in to live with her. I worked in her bar so I could "pay her back" for letting me live with her." Tate chuckled. "It's funny thinking back on it. Ten-year-old Tate, a tray of alcoholic drinks in one hand and grabbing tips with the other. Probably wasn't right to let a kid do that but it was fun."

A knock on the door shook Tate out of his storytelling. "Come in!" Jack yelled. Megan walked in with the pair's food and drinks. "Thanks, Meg." She nodded and quickly walked out. Jack ripped into his bag of food and started eating, "Keep going." Tate smiled, "One night right before I turned eighteen, some guys started acting out in the bar. Throwing drinks, threatening people, and harassing the lady who took care of me. So, like any kid who sees their guardian getting harassed does, I tried getting the guys to leave. They got cocky and started a bar fight. I was throwing some good punches for a while there, even knocked some teeth out, but one got a hold of me. The guy knocked me out and dragged me to some scav base far away from Concordia." Tate ate some of his food before continuing. "They tortured and beat the shit out of me for days." Tate raised up his robotic hand, "Even cut off my hand at the wrist, not a very fun way to spend my eighteenth birthday heh." Jack looked at Tate with pain in his eyes. "One day before the guys could start their torturing for the day, the moon started to shake like some kind of moonquake. Some vault hunter turned up though and killed every scav in the building. They released me from the cell I was held in and gave me a gun." Tate took a sip of his soda. "I got my revenge on that asshole who cut my hand off, shot him in the knees. I watched him try to crawl to the nearest gun before I shot him in the head. I laughed my ass off watching his head explode all over the walls of that terrible place. I realized I had a pretty fucked mind after that." Tate looked up from his empty plate at Jack, who looked surprised. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling." The CEO shook his head and took a big sip of his drink. "No, go ahead I'm invested in this." Tate laughed a little. 

"After I made my way back to Concordia, I got back to the bar. When I walked through those doors, my mom of sorts, quite literally jumped over the bar and tackled me heh." Tate smiled at the fond memory, his wounds hurt but the pain seemed to melt as she hugged him and pushed his head onto her chest. _"Oh my god, Sugar, I thought they killed you. I'm so glad you're alive."_ Tate took another sip of his drink. "Apparently while I was gone some old DAHL workers were trying to blow up the moon or something." Jack cringed at the memory of Zarpedon. "An hour after I got back some people and the same vault hunter from before walked into the bar. I guess they were going to stop the moon from blowing up." Handsome Jack's hand gripped his armrest, knuckles going white. "I wasn't awake for the whole saving thing, I had passed out from blood loss and was sent to the surgeon." The younger man flexed his robotic hand, "I didn't have this hand for a really long time. Serving drinks with one hand is a hard task ya know?" Jack relaxed in his chair as he watched Tate put his trash in the bag it came in and cleaned up the area around him. "A couple of years later, I saw a poster in the alleyway on the way to work one day. "Handsome Jack needs you for the new Hyperion." It was intriguing, to say the least. So, I packed all my shit and got on the first shuttle to Helios. It was weird to be on Helios the first day, to be honest. Hell, I saw the thing be built in the sky above me for the whole time I lived on Elpis. So, to step foot on it was a weird experience." The younger man sighed thinking back to his first day. "They made us take a test and whatever we made on it that's where we went. When I made a surprisingly high score in programming, they gave me a room, suit, and keycard. And I've been working here ever since." 

Jack leaned back and looked at Tate. "So when were you gonna tell me Moxxi raised you?" The color in Tate's face drained. "I-I uh, How did you know?" "Intuition cupcake, now answer the question." Tate fiddled with his watch. "I know you have a hatred towards Moxxi and all vault hunters so I thought it'd be best n-not to talk about her. I-if it helps, I haven't talked to her since the night I left for Helios. Last I heard, she has a bar on Pandora." Jack relaxed into his chair, dopamine injectors going to work. "I'm not gonna kill ya kiddo. Gave me too many hints on who she was though. The bar, Concordia, the motherly instincts, I used to date her so I figured it out pretty quickly." There was an awkward silence for a moment before Jack spoke, "It was me you saw with those people and the vault hunter. When I was younger and I opened the vault, It was me who went to Moxxi for help so I could save that stupid moon. I was the god dammed hero who saved them and they betrayed me!" Tate flinched as Jack raised his voice. "But that's behind me now," The older man looked at the clock on his desk. "You should probably head back to work now kiddo. We should do this again though just less talking about people I hate." "Thank you for the lunch. It was really..nice to talk to you." Tate walked towards the large office doors, "If you need me, you know where to find me." Tate then walked out. The older man chuckled as he looked at his computer screen, watching the security camera feed. He watched Tate pull up his phone on his mechanical hand and call his friend as he walked into the elevator. "Cute kid." Jack pushed away from his desk and walked to a table with liquor on it. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and looked out of his window at the scarred moon. The memories of the betrayal all come flashing back. 

The next day Tate put out the chips and dip for his friends. Just as he got the alcohol out, a knock on the door startled him. Tate ran to open the door, "Hey guys!" Yvette, Rhys, and Vaughn walked in. "I brought wine." Yvette held up two bottles of red wine. "Cool. There's beer, fruity wine coolers, and vodka in the kitchen." "Holy shit dude your new place looks great without all the boxes," Vaughn said as he walked in. The group followed behind Tate as he walked to the kitchen and they sat at the bar. "Thanks, What would yall like?" "Beer please," Vaughn said. "Wine cooler for me," Rhys said happily. "I'll take some wine please babe." Yvette toed her shoes off. Tate popped the cap off the beer and wine cooler, handing them to the other men, and poured the wine for Yvette. "So, how's work been for yall?" Tate asked as he popped open the cap on his wine cooler. "Shitty." Yvette took a sip of her wine. "Annoying." Vaughn drank from his beer grumpily. "Fuck Henderson." Tate chuckled at Rhys' response. "Well, tonight is to get that off your mind. Cheers." The group clinked their bottles and glass together. "First though you need to explain why you weren't at lunch yesterday." Yvette leaned on the bar. "I had that meeting at nine and stuff. Handsome Jack was at it, saw me nearly kill the head of mechanics because he kept calling me a kid, and then asked me to have lunch with him." Tate shyly took a sip, looking away from his friends. "How does this shit keep happening to you?" Rhys sounded slightly envious. "Haven't got a clue bro. Anyway, let's go watch some TV or play a game." "Good idea." Yvette picks up the bottle and walks with Tate to the couch, the boys following closely behind. 

Two bottles of wine, a case of beer and wine coolers, and half a bottle of vodka later, the group sat in the living room in front of the tv. Soft music played from it as Rhys swayed back and forth, holding the bottle of vodka. "La da da da dum, la, la la." Vaughn and Rhys sang drunkenly. A tipsy Yvette stole the bottle from the drunk men and took a huge gulp before handing it to a much more sober Tate. Working in a bar at the age of ten causes you to have a high tolerance to alcohol apparently. Tate drank the last bit from the bottle and got up, "I'm gonna go order some food." "Get more alcohol!" Rhys slurred and hiccupped. Tate shook his head and rolled his eyes before walking to the kitchen. Searching for a minute he finally found the pizza menu and called them, ordering two large supreme pizzas. Knowing that Rhys and Vaughn would be hungover the next morning, Tate looked around for some painkillers. "Fucking hell where are they?" The lanky man searched his bathroom cabinet and found an empty painkiller bottle. Cursing past Tate, he sighed and slid on some sneakers. He walked into the living room and watched Rhys and Vaughn dance drunkenly together. "Make sure they don't die, I gotta run to the store." He said at Yvette who was laughing at the two men. "And film that for me." Tate joked.

The young man walked out of his apartment and took the elevator to the shopping area of Helios. Walking into the empty pharmacy, Tate searches the aisles for the painkillers. "There they are!" Tate whisper yells, grabbing the cheap painkillers. "Have a rough night Pumpkin?" Tate jumps at the voice and looks to Handsome Jack standing next to him. "God, you scared me. And no, these are for my friends for tomorrow." "What'd you do? Fuck em too hard?" Tate laughs a little too loud in the quiet store. "No, we had a small get together at my new apartment. Went through two bottles of wine, a case of beer and wine coolers, and a bottle of vodka. My friends are lightweights." Jack laughs softly, "Did you drink anything cupcake?" "Yeah, I drank most of the wine and vodka. Just have a high tolerance." Tate looks down at Jack's basket and it's contents, some cold medicine, tissues, and cough drops. "What're you here for?" "Oh uh, my friend has a cold. Didn't wanna get it so I'm getting them some medicine." Tate smiles and nods, "I should get going before I left they were slow dancing with each other while my other friend filmed." Jack chuckled lowly, "Yeah, don't wanna miss that." Tate walked to the register and paid for his medicine. "If you need me, you know where to find me," Jack said as Tate left the store, leaving the younger man to smile the whole way back to his apartment. When he walked in, his trio of friends now lay asleep on his couch. Rhys cuddled up to Vaughn and Yvette holding a decorative pillow tightly. The younger friend sighed, throwing a blanket over each of his friends, and turned off the lights. Tate cleaned up the bottles from the kitchen. He put the pizza and dip for chips away in the fridge, and wiped down the counters. He slipped off his sneakers before plopping on his, falling asleep fast. 

The next morning Tate made sausage, pancakes, and eggs for the group of friends. Rhys was the first to wake up to the smell of food. Groaning as he sat down at the bar, Tate sat down a cup of water and two painkillers, "Take these and eat. you'll feel better." Rhys smiled weakly as he downed the pills. Yvette and Vaughn soon woke up and repeated the same steps as Rhys. Tate handed them both water and painkillers. The young man wiped his flour-covered hands on his apron and grabbed the plates of food, sliding them in front of each friend. "Eat up kids." Tate ate his food and leaned against the counter as the trio woke up slowly with each bite. "This is so good dude." Vaughn stuffed another bite into his already full mouth. "Where'd you learn to cook like this?" Yvette commented. "The lady who took care of me when I was a kid. She was a hell of a cook." Tate chuckled. "You've never told us about your life, like before Helios." Vaughn wiped his mouth. "How about I tell yall after breakfast. Then Rhys can help me with the dishes." The friends smiled at Tate and as they finished their food. 


	6. A change of tune

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //TW// Some triggering events about substance abuse and self-harm are brought up in this chapter, also talk of mania. Please be careful and read at your own risk.

Tate screamed into his pillow. this was the second week in a row that he wasn't able to sleep. He didn't want to depend on sleeping medicine like he had the week before so he endured the long nights of little to no sleep. He had hoped that Jack hadn't noticed the bags under his eyes at their lunch the previous day. The pair started to have lunches twice a week, mainly after meetings. Tate sat up in his bed quickly, throwing the blankets off of him and rushing to the living room. He pulled out his laptop and started working on programs for new guns. The silence of the apartment felt crushing, the dark felt like it could swallow him whole. He just needed to do something, anything. About halfway through the programming, he put down his laptop and jumped up. "Let's do something!" Tate spoke to the empty room around him. "We should color our hair. But what color?" Tate then sprinted to his bathroom, searching frantically for hair coloring. "Where the fuck is it?" Tate's anger started to build, he never had much control over his emotions once he turned sixteen, but it had gotten worse over the years. Nearly twenty-three and he still has temper tantrums.

"Well, I'll just go buy some then." He huffed and grabbed his wallet and keycard. He walked briskly to the elevator, hoping that the pharmacy would be open at 1:30 am and have hair dye. The fidgety man hummed a random pop song as he walked the halls. Finally making it to the, thankfully open, pharmacy he rushed through the aisles. "Hair dye, hair dye, hair dye." He searched each aisle getting antsier the more he walked. He gave up and walked to the tired-looking lady behind the counter. "Hi miss, do yall have any hair dye? Normal colors or crazy either is fine." Tate tapped his toe rapidly. He wasn't trying to seem rude or irritated but he needed to do this as soon as possible, or that's what his brain kept saying. "Aisle nine, we don't have many though." Tate nodded and mumbled a thank you as he sprinted. There weren't many colors in front of him like the girl had said. They all ranged from variations of blonde and brown. Tate decided to go with the option farthest from blonde and brown as he could, black with blue tones. His brain seemed satisfied enough, so he paid quickly and left for his apartment. On the way to the elevator, he bumped into something or maybe someone but he couldn't make out who it was in the dim lights.

"I'm sorry I didn't see you." Tate tried to move around the person but was grabbed by the arm. A sudden rush of memories came flooding back, causing Tate to drown out all sound around him. He was ready to react if need be but the person who was holding his arm wasn't moving. "Hey!" A loud snap next to Tate's ear shook him out of his trauma filled daze. The young man blinked a few times and wiped his face of tears that fell. Looking up, he met Jack's worried eyes. "Am I hallucinating?" Tate was dizzy from the hyperventilating that he was unaware of. "Wh-what? No kiddo. It's me, Handsome Jack in the flesh." The older man's hands were placed carefully on Tate's shoulders, he was worried the kid might freak again. Tate started to laugh, loudly, enough to slightly creep out and worry Handsome Jack. "Are you alright pumpkin?" Jack reached a hand up to Tate's chin and turned him to look at him. "Are you okay?" Jack looked at the younger man's face, he noticed the deep purple bags under his glazed-over eyes. His hair was a mess and he looked like he was about to fall apart. "You need some sleep kiddo." Exhaustedly, Tate started crying. "I-uh, I'm not good with crying. Let's um let's get you home. That sound good?" The younger man half nodded as he cried quietly. Holding onto him, Jack dragged them to the elevator, letting Tate press the button for the residential floor. 

During the elevator ride, Tate had stopped crying and leaned on the cold wall. Once the doors opened, Tate lead Jack to his apartment. "You don't have to stay ya know." Tate rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand as he opened the door. "Just wanna make sure you get in safe cupcake." Tate smiled softly and walked in, throwing the bag of hair dye somewhere. The older man looked around to the living room, scattered with books and blankets, the kitchen, covered in dirty dishes and remnants of baked goods. "Quite the place ya got here kid." Tate kept his head down as he walked to his room, Jack followed closely behind. Just as Jack suspected, Tate's room was in the same state as everything else, clothes strung across the floor and numerous cups on the nightstand. "How do you live like this kiddo?" Tate shrugs and sighs. He grabs a pair of bed pants and walks to the bathroom to quickly change. After a moment a sad, exhausted Tate comes back, shirtless with robotic hand unhooked. "You're still here?" Tate looks at Jack who's sat on the edge of the bed, he wanted to sit in the desk chair in the corner but that was covered in clothes too. "You need to sleep princess, can't go anywhere 'til I know you're asleep." "Why do you care so much?" Tate sat on his bed with his legs crossed, facing Jack. "'Cause I just do pumpkin, don't question me." Tate rolled his eyes and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. "Well, talk to me, it'll help me sleep." 

"-he can't see where he's going, he's bumping into stuff, and ah," Jack starts laughing, wiping a fake tear from his eye. "... I don't know, maybe you had to be there. The moral is: you're a total bitch." He chuckles again, "Hey, why aren't you-" He looks over to see Tate, curled up in a ball snoring, finally sleeping. The older man smiles softly before getting up, quietly making his way out of the apartment. He looks at the time on his watch, 5:00 am, he sighs and makes his way to the fast travel point. "Damn kid took forever to sleep." The room quickly changed around him bringing him to the hallway to his office. Walking through his office doors, his computer dinged. Clicking the message, he sat at his chair, lighting a cigarette as the message played. "Hey, dad, the scientists have been trying to reach you lately. I was their last resort as a way to contact you. Don't kill them it's just about my Eridium levels." He heard Angel make a pained sigh and cringed, "Oh and Nisha said she wanted to thank you for giving her Lynchwood. She said she's been too busy so she couldn't make it up there. Anyways, have a good day dad. Love you." The message ended as he took another long drag from his cigarette. He flicked the ash onto the floor and opened up his email. He responded to Nisha, saying he'd try to come down soon to see her law bringing in person. He took a last drag of the cigarette before crushing it in the ashtray, leaning back in his chair, another long workday ahead of him. His mind racing with thoughts of Tate, that stupid, cute kid.

The next few days passed by too slowly for Tate. He had another late night of not being able to sleep and hasn't slept a full night since the night Jack was there. That morning he woke up he truly thought it had been a hallucination but when he got a message from Handsome Jack himself, saying: _I hope you slept well cupcake_ , he nearly died of embarrassment. Tate splashed his face with cold water and hooked up his mechanical hand, he had lunch with Jack today after a department meeting and was nervous. He didn't want the older man to notice the lack of sleep so he smacked his face lightly trying to bring life back into it. He looked at the time and quickly threw on his outfit before sliding on his shoes. He grabbed an energy drink he had never tried before from his kitchen. "Keycard, check. Papers for meeting and Gladis, check. Drink, check." He wasn't as hyper as normal but tried to keep up the facade for everyone around him. Taking the elevator, as usual, Tate quickly made his way to Gladis. "Mornin' Gladis." Tate tried to keep up his cheery mood. "Goodmorning Mr. Parks. Are you alright?" Tate quickly handed the papers to her, "Yep, just fine. Couldn't be better actually. Gotta get going though, big meeting." Tate tripped over his words, he acted like he was rushing late as he ran down the halls to the hub. The caffeine of his energy drink finally kicking in, Tate swerved carefully through the crowds of people, making it to the elevator just in time. He hummed a tune quietly, waiting patiently to get to the conference floor. 

Tate was one of the first few people to get to the conference room. He sat at his regular seat, working on his notes until Jack walked in. The moment his sneaker walked through the door, Tate went back to pretending to be awake and cheery. Intimidating the other men in the room, Jack sat in his chair, his mood immediately shifting when he saw a happy Tate. He flashed a smug smile at the younger man before turning to the other people in the room. "Alright, mechanics you're up first." Tate took notes as the mechanics droned on, trying not to get distracted by Jack who kept glancing at him every few minutes. After mechanics and accountants finished up it was Tate's turn. The young man stood up straightening his vest, "This past month we've worked on more programming for guns like always, there are more small details about each we've worked on in your notes here." Tate hands a few papers out to each person. "A big thing we've worked on this month is the new shields for the constructors," Tate cuts an eye at the mechanic. "Thankfully that has improved our loader bot productions. The next thing we're working on is the new drills for the eridium mines that will pull out 20% more concentrated eridium." Jack nodded and Tate sat down, crossing his leg over the other and focusing back on his notes as the next person spoke. The older man watched Tate intently as he took his notes, how chewed on his bottom lip and licked it when he focused hard, how his hair would fall in front of his face, hiding it until he looked up or used his hand to brush it back. He noticed all of the kid's weird habits. He also noticed how he was struggling to stay awake and focused today.

After a grueling 2 hours, the meeting had finally finished. The room had emptied out quite quickly, leaving the two men sitting at the table alone. "So what's for lunch today? I was thinking we get some pasta or something." Tate propped his head on his hands, looking happily at Jack. "Sounds good pumpkin. I've got a question for you though, and don't lie to me. When was the last time you slept?" Tate sighed and dropped his head on the table with a thump. "I haven't slept since you brought me home." Jack nearly lost his temper, "That was five days ago! How are you even walking around right now?" Tate sat up slowly and shrugged, "I don't know Jack. It's just hard to sleep at night." The older man sighed and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose with closed eyes. "Well, you are gonna tell me why, at lunch." "But-" Tate tries to protest as he follows quickly behind Jack to the fast travel. "No buts pumpkin. Now c'mon." Tate sighs, stepping beside Jack.

The pair sat at Jack's desk, food already in front of them. The CEO twirls his pasta around on his fork, "Now," He takes a huge bite. "Tell me what's going on." Tate sighs. "Every few months I'll go kinda 'crazy' and try to do a ton of stuff because my brain says if I don't I'll die." Tate takes a bite and looks at a confused Jack. "That night you brought me home I was coming back from buying hair dye at 2 am because these things in my head wanted me to. Now I know you're thinking, "Just don't" but like the only other option was critically harming myself so I went with the safer option." Jack took a sip of his drink. "I mean that explains the books everywhere and the baking stuff." Tate nodded. "I don't really know how to explain it but I go manic every few months. Sometimes it can last for a few weeks up to months. It was really bad when I was around seventeen." Tate looked back on the memories.

"I used to scare the shit out of Moxxi. Hell, I used to scare the shit outta myself. Sometimes the thoughts would get so bad I would try to see how much alcohol I could drink in one sitting." Tate half chuckled as he ate another bite. "This one time I walked out of the oxygen barrier without my Oz kit on and tried to see how long I'd last." Tate cringed at the memory, Moxxi freaking out and breaking character in front of Janey, both of them pulling him into the oxygen barrier. "I put her through hell sometimes." Jack looked at Tate with soft eyes. "I only really got manic like that when bad memories would come back and hit like a truck. That's why it's hard to sleep, everytime I close my eyes it's just a flashback to something bad. Last night when I tried to sleep I thought back to when I was being tortured." Tate grimaced thinking about it. "Every pull of the saw on my wrist, every bone break, every slice. Fucking horrible shit to think about ya know?" Jack nodded. The two finished their food, cleaning up the area. "Do you wanna rest over there?" Jack motioned to the lounge area that had a couch. "It's not the most comfortable but you get to hear me talk for a bit, that seemed to help you the other night." Tate watched as the older man lit a cigarette and took a long drag. "What about work?" Jack chuckled lowly as he blew the smoke out. "They can go one day without you. Besides I'm your boss and I'm saying you can have the rest of the day off and you can sleep on that couch." Before Tate could protest again Jack gave a warning look, "Go, rest, now." Tate surrendered and laid down on the couch. The silence of the office soon filled with Jack barking orders and scaring some poor soul through the phone. Funnily enough, that's exactly what put Tate to sleep in minutes.


	7. Asleep to the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tate sleeps the whole day away in Jack's office. Jack suggests they do something fun to get his mind off work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not have enough motivation for this chapter, so I apologize for the crap writing. On the plus side, it's nice fluff away from the angst I've had in the past 2 chapters.

Jack slams his fist down on the end call button. Another stupid scientist down in R&D has managed to fuck up _another_ skag research project. "How hard can it fucking be to scan a god damn skag?!" Jack yells at his computer screen. For a moment he contemplates sending the whole group of scientists out of an airlock but Tates movement shakes him out of his rage-filled daze. The older man looks over to Tate, somehow still peacefully sleeping, drooling on his flesh hand. Jack snorts before hitting the intercom button, "Meg send in a blanket will ya?" "Of course, sir." A minute or so later, Meg comes in with a large fluffy, Hyperion yellow, blanket. "Thanks, doll, just set it there." Jack motions to the loveseat next to Tate.

Meg knows to never question Handsome Jack, but to see an alive body, peacefully sleeping on his office couch, was a new sight even for her. Leaving her questions in her head, she quietly and quickly set the blanket down. "Sir, you have a video conference with Maliwan soon." The CEO sighed and nodded, not sparing the secretary a glance as she walked out, continuing to type away on his computer. Lighting a cigarette and fixing his hair, he took a long drag, inhaling deeply, before getting up and walking to the couch where Tate still slept. The older man quietly picked up the blanket, laying it over the younger man gently. Tate had been sleeping soundly for a couple of hours now and Jack didn't understand how. He had screamed and yelled, threatened the life of multiple workers, and nearly killed the janitor that came in unexpectantly during his raging, and the kid hadn't woken up once. He flicked ashes on the floor away from the carpet beneath him, a soft smile spread across his face as he watched Tate sleep peacefully. His computer started to ring loudly, taking him out of his happy state. Walking quickly to his desk, he took one last drag from the cigarette, quickly crushing it in the ashtray as he answered the call. "Katagawa, nice to see you. What do we have to talk about." Jack sat confidently in his chair. 

Once it hit 9 pm, Jack genuinely started to worry whether Tate was alive or not. He had been sleeping for nearly nine hours and the past four he hadn't moved much. Jack ordered food for them both then got up and sat on the loveseat next to Tate. Once the food got there, it seemed as if Tate had smelling salts under his nose. Tate woke up quickly to the smell of pizza being sat in front of him. "Finally you're awake." Jack smiled. "How long was I out?" The younger man rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "Nine hours. Eat up." The CEO stuffed his mouth with pizza, the cheese pulling and stringing out. "Holy shit. I-I'm sorry." "Why are you apologizing? Don't apologize. Eat before it gets cold." Tate picked up the hot slice of pizza, blowing on it trying to cool it, taking a huge bite. "Oh my god, this is like an orgasm for your mouth." Tate stuffed his mouth with another huge bite. Jack laughed at his remark. "Did ya sleep well pumpkin?" The younger man nodded happily, his mouth too full of food to talk. After Tate finally swallowed down the massive amount of food, he sat back comfortably and wrapped the blanket around him. He was so caught up in eating he didn't realize that someone had covered him up while he was sleeping. 

"You drool in your sleep." Jack looked at the slowly drying spot of drool staining his couch. Tate mumbled a sorry, trying to wipe it up with his sleeve. Jack rolled his eyes, "So kiddo, what do ya wanna do?" Tate shot a questioning look. "We can do anything but talk business. I've heard enough shit about that today." "What about video games? I have some at my place. Or maybe watch tv." "I'd kick your ass at video games princess. How bout we watch some tv at my place?" Tate's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "A-are you sure?" Jack rolls his eyes, "C'mon kiddo let's go." He turns off one last light, leaving Elpis' purple glow the only thing illuminating the room. Tate drops the blanket on the couch and quickly catches up to Jack, nearly running into him. The pair stand at the fast travel, Jack typing in the code to his penthouse. Tate instinctively grabs Jack's arm and closes his eyes as the room warps and pixelates around them, landing them in front of a gold door. Next to the door is a fingerprint activated lock. Jack puts his thumb on the pad, Tate watches closely as it lights up blue scanning his print, unlocking the gold door. As Jack opens the door Tate releases his hold on the older man's arm. 

To say the apartment was large was an understatement. The living room sat the largest, most comfy looking, couch Tate thinks he's ever seen, seated in front of an enormous tv. Jack walked into the apartment nonchalantly, taking his holster and gun off, setting them on the large, seemingly unused, kitchen table. Tate walked further into the apartment still ogling at everything around him. Jack toed off his sneakers and took off enough layers until he was left in his jeans and Hyperion sweater. He looked over at an amazed Tate, "Would you like something more comfortable than that suit sweetcheeks?" Tate snapped out of his daze and nodded. "I should have something that might fit you," Jack spoke as he disappeared behind a wall and into a room. A moment later he came back with a large yellow sweater, similar to the one he wore, and a pair of grey and black plaid pajama pants. "I'm not sure if this'll fit but it's better than nothing." Tate was always aback by Jack's random bursts of kindness but always accepted them anyway. "Bathroom is the first door on the left." Tate took the clothes and followed Jack's directions to the first open door on the left.

The pajama pants that were given to him didn't fit and the sweater swallowed him whole, just barely hitting his mid-thigh and sleeves going past his hands. He sighed and was thankful the sweater covered the more intimate parts of his briefs. Tate walked to the living room with his work clothes in hand, "Hey, what do you want me to do with these?" "Leave em in the bathroom." Jack called from an unknown place. Putting his clothes back, he searched the large apartment for the older man. "Hey, Jack where are you?" "In here cupcake." Tate followed the voice down another hall, past the kitchen, to a room that looked like an in-home theater with a bar. "Did ya get lost pumpkin?" Tate took in the sight before him. Handsome Jack, making a fruity cocktail, a rag over his shoulder, looking relaxed as ever. Tate took a mental picture of this moment. "Nearly, your place is huge." Jack chuckled lowly. Tate sat on a barstool in front of the smiling man. "Oou strawberry daiquiri my favorite." The older man slid the drink over to Tate. "So whatcha wanna watch cupcake? Horror? Comedy? Horror comedy?" "Is that all you have?" Tate looked up at Jack as he took a sip. "No, that's just my personal favorites but you can pick whatever." "Horror comedy is good. Best of both worlds." The pair smiled at each other, Tate momentarily getting lost in Jack's blue and green eyes. They both sat down in their comfy seats, Tate noticing how close Jack was and started the movie. 

The pair laughed loudly as the guy on the screen was run over by the steam roller. Jack handed another daiquiri to Tate as he sat down, arm thrown lazily over the younger man's shoulders. Tate took small notes of how Jack acted towards him the whole movie, his hand was always on Tate. Whether it be on his shoulder, his thigh, or playing lazily with his hair, Jack was a very touchy person. Not that Tate minded at all. In fact, Tate probably needed this sort of affection, and it's not like Jack was drunkenly touching him either, the man hadn't touched a drop all night. After the first movie ended, Jack stood up and qued up a comedy. "You stay here I'll be back with snacks." Shortly after the movie began, Jack came back with bags of chips and a tub of dip. The two ate their snacks and laughed and joked about and at the stupid movie before them. As the credits started the older man had another movie qued up, some romantic comedy. Halfway through the third movie Tate started to dose off. He softly leaned his head on Jack's shoulder, softly laughing at a joke before slowly drifting to sleep. Jack looked over at Tate and chuckled softly, "Romantic comedies make you sleepy, got it." 


	8. New Skills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack teaches Tate how to properly shoot and they have more bonding time.

For a few months, Jack and Tate have kept up with their after meeting lunches. They've even had a few more movie nights in Jack's penthouse. Today though, Tate noticed how the older man seemed a bit more tense than usual. Tate knew that Jack was always tense when at work, he had every right to be. The spies and assassins that keep getting caught lately would put anyone on edge. What the younger man didn't know was that the bandits and vault hunters on pandora were already interfering with Jack's new vault plan. Tate noticed just how tense the poor man was when he came into his office, that Tate was told to wait in, from his board meeting covered in various people's blood. "Hey, cupcake!" Jack smiled happily and waltzed his way to the lounge area where the younger man sat. "I take it the meeting didn't go too well?" Tate put down the magazine he was reading. "Nah. Some asshat thought today was a good day to go against my eridium mining ideas." The older man plopped down onto the dark leather loveseat. Trying to relieve the tension that Jack was holding, Tate stood up and sat on the arm of the couch, closer to Jack. "Well, what do you wanna do? We could eat, but only after you get cleaned up." Tate smiled at Jack, watching as he visibly started to relax. Jack placed a hand on Tate's knee, "We can eat later. How well can you shoot pumpkin?" "Well enough I guess." Tate gave a confused smile. "That's not good enough." The older man stood up and walked to the bathroom he had built in his office. "You and I are going to the shooting range." He yelled. 

A few moments later Jack came out of the bathroom doing up the last latch on his vest. "How many spares of that outfit do you have?" Tate joked. Jack looked over and rolled his eyes, "A lot." The older man walked over to Tate, grabbing his hand, "Now let's go teach you how to shoot kiddo." Tate gave a small wave to Meg as he was pulled to the fast travel. They were quickly transported in front of the doors to the armory. Jack dropped Tate's hand and strode through the doors. Tate ignored the tinge of pain he felt in his chest and caught up to the CEO. "Handsome Jack sir." The guard stood up quickly and gave a small salute. "Get me a stall and a couple of pistols." The guard nodded and grabbed three different pistols, quickly bringing them to an open stall before leaving the pair alone. "What now?" Tate questioned the older man. "Choose one pumpkin." Tate looked at the two different repeater pistols and machine pistol. Tate thought for a second a picked up the machine pistol, "Ah, the 'Reaper' good choice kiddo." Jack loaded the gun and handed it back to Tate. "Show me what you can do so far." Tate unsteadily held the gun with one hand, legs way too far apart, and not really aiming. He shot the gun at the paper target ahead of him. "No, no, no. You're doing it wrong." Jack snatched the gun out of his hands and moved him over. "Like this; legs not too far apart. If you're trying to aim, look down this line or the sight or whatever the gun has alright." Tate nodded, mentally taking notes of how Jack stood confidently, legs just enough apart that he was steady, hand gripping the gun tightly. "Now with this gun, ya just gotta do it like this, watch and learn." Jack pulled the trigger, aiming for the head, and hit the target dead-on. The CEO laughed loudly, "See pumpkin, just like that. Now you try." 

After a couple of hours and a few different guns later, Tate was starting to get the hang of it. "Alright now left shoulder, right leg, chest, then head." Tate held his breath and aimed, shooting each part of the target in the order Jack had said. "Goddamn kiddo you learn fast." Jack patted Tate on the back. "I'm starving kiddo, are you starving? Let's get some dinner." Tate put down the rifle and followed Jack to the fast travel. "Before we go, would you like to go on a date with me?" Tate stood in front of Handsome Jack, stunned by such a question. "Oh no, did I break you kid?" Jack shook Tate's shoulder. "Wha-I mean. Y-yeah, I'd love to." Jack smirked, "Great! We can plan the date over dinner at my place." "So like a date before the date?" Jack smiled and pulled Tate next to him, typing in the code for his penthouse into the fast travel. "Kinda." The hallway around them warped and pixelated, placing them in front of the gold penthouse door. Once the door unlocked, Jack made his way inside, removing his layers until he was comfortably in his Hyperion sweater and jeans. "Go ahead and get comfortable, you have extra clothes in the spare bedroom down the hall. I'm going to start dinner." Jack smiled and disappeared into the kitchen. A month ago after one of their hangouts at the penthouse, Jack had said _"If you're gonna keep coming to my house you should probably bring some extra clothes. I'm tired of you stealing my sweaters kiddo."_ So Tate had a set of comfy clothes sent to Jack's office the next day. 

Walking down the hall to the spare bedroom, Tate noticed a door slightly open. He knew he should just walk past and not be nosey but his curiosity got the better of him. He looked behind him to make sure Jack wasn't near and quietly opened the door, it was quite dark so he should've just left but instead, he turned on the flashlight on his robotic hand. The light blinked on and lit up the floor beneath him, he pointed it around and saw a bed with dark purple covers. Walking in a bit further, he pointed the light to another part of the room and found a vanity. The makeup and brushes sitting on the vanity looked like it hadn't been touched in a few years. Further scanning the room, he found clothes that belong to a young girl and a few dolls that were covered in more dust than the vanity. "Get lost there, pumpkin?" The light in the room was flicked on, scaring Tate. Turning the flashlight off and swinging around, Tate saw Jack, wearing a 'Kiss the cook' apron, leaning against the doorway. "I-uh-I'm sorry. I shouldn't be in here-" Jack held up his hand, Tate took that as a sign to shut up. "Just go get changed, dinner's almost ready." Tate quickly walked out, nearly sprinting to the spare bedroom. The older man took one look around the sad, time capsule room and turned off the light, shutting and locking the door before heading back to the kitchen. 

After getting dressed in more comfortable clothes, Tate quickly makes his way to the kitchen. Jack is setting a steak on a plate, pouring the last bit of butter from the skillet on the steak. "Smells great." Jack looked up from the plate and wiped his hands on his apron. "It should, I made it." He smirked and walked the plates to the small table in the corner of the kitchen. "Thought this was nicer than that big ol' table out there." Jack pulls out the chair and motions Tate to sit. "Thanks." He pushes the chair in, running to grab two glasses and a bottle of wine before sitting himself down. "Pretty fancy for a date before the date." Tate smiled. "I haven't gotten to cook for anyone in a while." Jack poured the wine, "My last girlfriend, Nisha I think I told you about her, she hasn't been up here in ages." Tate took a sip of his wine and started to cut at his steak. "I didn't know you could cook, I thought you had someone do it for you or you ordered food all the time to be honest." Tate took a bite, "Oh my god this fucking heavenly." Jack chuckled. "I had to learn to cook a long time ago, but most of the time I do just order out." They continued to eat in silence for a bit before Tate spoke up. "Who's room was that back there?" Jack sighed and sat his fork and knife down before taking a sip of his wine. "My daughter's." Tate tried not to look too shocked. "I didn't know you had a-." "Yeah, I kept it that way for a reason. She's too precious and dangerous for other people to know about her." Jack took another sip of wine, "She used to live here for a while before she was kidnapped and killed her mother." The younger man kept his eyes on Jack, watching as his hands balled up into a fist. "She's a siren. She lost control of her powers when she was young so I keep her contained. She has access to the ECHOnet through her powers though. She sends me messages often too." Jack finished his glass and filled it back up, taking huge sips. Tate reached over and grabbed his hand with his flesh one, "I know you're just trying to do what's best for her. I can tell you love her." He stroked the back of Jack's hand with his thumb reassuringly. Jack grabbed Tate's hand tightly and squeezed, "I do." The pair finished the rest of their dinner quietly, sharing small glances and soft smiles. 

After dinner, the two ended up on the couch in the living room watching some gory tv show. Jack had his hand rested on Tate's thigh, laughing loudly at the dumb ways the people were dying. "How did he die like that seriously? Does he not check the floor where he walks?" Jack wiped a fake tear away. Tate giggled, Jack's laughter, when not being the one getting laughed at, can be really infectious. Jack looked over to the younger man who was staring at him longingly. "You do that a lot." "Do what?" "Always looking at me like you wanna kiss me or something princess." A blush crept up Tate's neck and face. Jack's hand traveled up Tate's thigh as he moved closer. "Well, do you?" Jack's cologne was intoxicating, he's never noticed how good he smelt before. "Y-yes." The older man closed the gap, his lips finally meeting Tate's. Tate noted how soft his lips were even with mask blocking his real ones. Jack's grip on Tate's thigh tightened as he worked his mouth against the other man's. Tate melted against Jack's lips, groaning softly when Jack's hand moved up further to his hip. Jack pulled back to breathe, looking at a dazed Tate who was trying to catch his own breath. "You have no clue how long I've wanted to do that." The younger man said breathlessly. Jack grabbed Tate's hips and pulled him onto his lap. Jack's hands traveled up and down the younger man's body before landing on his ass. Tate leaned in, hotly kissing Jack, nipping and licking at his lips. Jack took that as a sign and parted his mouth with Tate following suit, letting their tounges dance around each other. As the kisses grew deeper, Jack squeezed Tate's ass harshly. Before it went any further, Jack pulled back to breathe. The two were both very clearly riled up. "Let's watch a movie yeah?" Jack said out of breath. Tate climbed off his lap and leaned on his shoulder, "Sure, what ya wanna watch?" 


	9. Something Snapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being around Jack so much has changed something in Tate.

A few days later, Tate was still tingling from the kiss. "Hey, guys!" Tate sat down at the table with Rhys, Yvette, and Vaughn. "Hey bro! How's work been?" Vaughn bro fisted him as he ate his food. "Pretty shit to be honest. Programming these fucking drills is killing me something keeps interfering with them on Pandora." "Probably those bandits. Pandora is crazy dude." Rhys took a bite of his sandwich. "Yvette, how have you been?" She doesn't look up from her ECHOpad, "Just fine. Why don't you ever eat with us anymore?" "I have a lot of meetings now that I'm head of programming. And I've started going to the gym and training in the shooting range." She still hasn't looked up at him. "Sure, cool. Glad that you're learning to shoot instead of being with your friends." Tate grabs the edge of the table, "You know you don't have to be such a bitch. Hell, you could even try to be happy for me." Rhys and Vaughn look at each other with wide eyes. Yvette slowly looked up from her ECHOPad. "Why should I have to be happy for you? You got a promotion because you lost it on him and somehow 'convinced' Handsome Jack to give the job to you." Tate slammed his fist on the small table. "And what are you trying to imply here?" Yvette glared, "Your stupidity proves my point. You probably slept your way into your promotion." Tate stood up, angrily huffing. Rhys and Vaughn both stood up quickly, ready to hold the man back. "For your information, I've put a lot of hard work into my job." Yvette cuts him off, "Oh I bet." Tate growls angrily. "You of all people should know I wouldn't stoop so low as to sleep with someone for a promotion." Rhys put his hand on Tate's chest, "Go cool off please. We'll talk to her." Tate looked at Rhys and Vaughn's worried faces. He huffed angrily and pushed his way out of the Hub. 

Tate fast traveled his way to the shooting range. Pushing through the doors, he angrily greeted the guard, "Hey Greg, shotgun, please. I wanna blow a hole in a target's head." The guard nodded, grabbing a large shotgun, leading the angry man to an open stall. "Hey, you got a cigarette?" Tate had only smoked a few times before, the first time when he was a teen working at the bar and the past few times with Jack. Greg handed a cigarette to Tate and lit it for him. "Thanks," Tate held it on his lips as he lined up his shot. He pulled the trigger and watched as the target's head flew off, a new one quickly being put in its place. He took a long drag, the smoke burning his lungs as he inhaled. He blew out the puff of smoke as he shot the target again. He repeated this a few more times before he partially calmed down. He bummed another cigarette from Greg as he turned in the guns. He made his way down the halls, not sure where he was going just inhaling smoke as his feet took him to where ever. Before stepping into the elevator, he finished his cigarette, squashing it on the floor. He stepped inside and mindlessly pressing the button to Jack's office. He leaned his head against the cold elevator wall still trying to calm down from the stupid fight with Yvette. _Why did she have to be a bitch? I've been nothing but kind to her. Rhys and Vaughn aren't mad like that, are they?_ The elevator dinged as the doors opened. 

Tate marched down the hall, seeing Meg at her desk. "Now isn't a good time Tate. Something pissed him off and he's got someone in there right now so it might get messy." She looked a bit worried. "Oh perfect." He walked past Meg who was still shouting at him to stop and pushed through the office doors. Tate's honey brown, angry eyes met Jack's blue and green, crazed eyes. "Oh hi, pumpkin. Now's not a good time, this absolute idiot," He motioned to the man kneeling in front of him. "Thought it was smart to mouth off to me. Don't want you to see what I'm about to do." Tate crossed his arms. He marched over to Jack, putting a hand on his shoulder. He leaned over to the older man's ear and whispered, "Let me help." An evil smile splayed across Jack's face, his sharp canines shining. "Be my guest cupcake." Jack pulled his gun out of his holster and handed it to Tate. The thing that Yvette had said was the straw that broke the camel's back, something in Tate had snapped. Snapped doesn't mean that you're fully gone but it sure does mean you're close to it. Tate gripped the gun tightly and looked down at the poor man before him. He sat there and sobbed, pleading at Tate. "You should have known you never talk back to Handsome Jack." Jack leaned against his desk watching the scene play before him. Tate cocked the gun and aimed it between the man's eyes.

He pulled the trigger, blood splattering across his clothes and face. The man's body slumped backward and hit the floor with a hard thud. Tate, looking down at the dead man who was slowly bleeding from the wound in his head, started to laugh. Not laugh but cackle. He dropped the gun to the floor and cackled loudly, shaking, on the brink of tears, but still cackling. Something in him was about to crack. Jack pulled Tate over to him and wiped the blood off his lips before kissing him hard. Tate melted into Jack's arms, he came back. Back to his usual self. Jack lifted Tate up and sat him on the desk, he stood between his legs, pressing against him as they kissed. They pulled back for a moment, "Are you okay now?" Jack held the younger man's face with both hands, stroking his cheek with his thumb. Tate nodded, leaning into the soft gesture. "Tell me what happened pumpkin." Tate sat on the desk and told Jack about the ordeal from lunch. Jack sat in his chair, dopamine injectors going to work quickly. "Want me to kill her? I can kill her. She deserves it for talking to you like that." Tate shook his head and got up from his spot on the desk. "I should get going, work and all that." He looked down at his blood-splattered suit, he didn't know how his coworkers would react. He shook his head and pushed that thought away. "Are we still on for our real date tomorrow?" Jack smiled, "Of course. No bandit or idiot could get in the way of that." Tate walked to his chair and kissed him deeply before pulling back. "Gotta get back to work. See you tomorrow though."

The next morning Tate spent most of his day off cleaning his apartment. It seemed like every time he cleaned it his depressive or manic episodes would come back and the cycle would repeat. The doorbell rang, pulling him from his cleaning thoughts. "Must be pizza." He turned down the music and ran to the door, opening it he saw Rhys and Vaughn. "Oh, um hey." Tate awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "What are you guys doing here?" "What Yvette said yesterday was pretty fucked honestly," Rhys said. "If you two aren't friends anymore then that's understandable but that doesn't mean we have to stop being friends." "Still bros?" Vaughn stuck out his fist, Rhys following his moves. "Still bros." Tate fist-bumped the two friends. "I'm trying to clean up my house, would you guys like to help?" The pair shrugged, "Sure." 

A few hours later the trio had fully cleaned the apartment. "God, what time is it?" Tate looked at the watch on his wrist. 7:00 pm. "Oh shit, I gotta start getting ready," Rhys questioned. "A date, can't tell you who though." Tate jumped up. "You two do have to get going though, it's nothing personal I just have to get ready." The pair understood and said their goodbyes, leaving Tate to jump around trying to get ready. He quickly showered and looked for clothes still in his towel. "Something cute, something sexy, something~ oh hell I have nothing." Meanwhile, Jack was sitting at his desk dressed to the nines but still struggling with work. Each day the vault hunters have gotten closer to trying to stop him from opening the vault of the Warrior. He also noticed that Angel was acting off and like she was working with them. She'd never do that though, that his little girl. He looked at the time on his computer. "7:45 already?" The CEO quickly shut his computer, fixed his suit, and walked to the fast travel. Punching in the code to the residential area, he warped to the new hallway. Thankfully he remembered the way to Tate's apartment. He rang the bell twice, anxiously looking around for anyone who might freak out or start a rumor about Tate. Jack wanted Tate to be honored and recognized for his work not be made out to look like some whore who sleeps their way to the top. The door opening pulled Jack out of his thoughts. "Finally cupcake, thought I was gonna have to break the door down." Jack looked the younger man up and down. Tate wore tight-fitting pants that made his thighs look so damn good, a tight-fitting black button-up that was unbuttoned a quarter of the way down. "Goddammed gorgeous," Jack said a bit breathless. "Well, let's get going. Reservation's at eight." The older man grabbed Tate's hand and led him to the fast travel. 

The date went along swimmingly, Tate had the best and probably most expensive wine he's ever had, and the best lasagna he's ever eaten. When they got their food Jack mentioned, "I could make this for you someday. It'd be even better than this." Tate laughed at his cockiness. It was now later in the evening and the pair were tipsy as they walked to the fast travel. "Those pants make your ass look great kitten." Jack grabbed a handful of the younger man's ass and squeezed causing him to squeak. They warped to Jack's penthouse, quickly unlocking it before Jack pinned Tate to the door. "You looked so damn good tonight, your ass, your thighs. Felt like a tease all night." Jack wrapped his hand around Tate's throat, giving it a light squeeze. "Please," Tate whispered. Jack chuckled lowly and squeezed his throat tightly. Tate's eyes rolled back as he let out a soft moan. "Want me to wreck you huh kitten?" Tate struggled to nod. Jack released his grip on the younger man. Tate's hands fumbled with Jack's belt but quickly got it undone along with the button and zipper on his pants. "Eager aren't we honey?" Tate dropped to his knees and tugged the older man's pants down to his thigh. He looks up innocently at Jack, stroking him through his boxers. Jack groans, "You really like being a tease, don't you?" Tate nods quickly before pulling down his boxers, watching with wide eyes as Jack's large cock spring out. Tate couldn't put his mouth on it fast enough. He kitten licked the tip before taking the head in his mouth. Jack braced himself on the door in front of him. "Fuck baby." Tate took him into his mouth as far as he could before gagging and pulling back. Soon enough Tate picked up a good rhythm, using his flesh hand on the half that didn't fit in his mouth, stroking him in time with his bobbing head. "Fucking hell kitten." Jack groaned, his dick twitching in Tate's mouth. The younger man moaned around him, the vibrations causing Jack to buck his hips up. "Fuck I'm close. Babe get up." Tate pulled off with swollen lips and teary eyes. Jack grabbed the younger man's chin, making him look up. "Look at you, already so fucked out and we haven't even started yet." Jack held out his hand, Tate grabbing it and being pulled up. "Bedroom." 

The next morning, Tate was awoken by Jack getting up and pulling on pants. "Where you going?" He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Just going to make us breakfast cupcake. I'll be right back." He kissed the sleepy man on the forehead and left for the kitchen. Tate wished he could stay in this moment forever. If only he knew what Jack had been doing all this time. 


	10. Loss of control, the fall, and the crash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tate finds out what Jack had been doing all this time and watches his life shatter before him, all in the same afternoon.

Jack tried his best to not let Tate know what was happening. He had killed and airlocked more people in the last week than he did in his first week of being CEO. In the process of distracting Tate, he gave him a gift, a gold bracelet with a tiny pendant of Helios on it. He was doing good for a while, romancing Tate every night, and distracting them both, only to lose his shit when he got to his office. Until the day Angel died. Tate was told to spend his day off at the penthouse, so he did. He cooked a nice dinner for them when Jack got home, he knew it wouldn't be as good as the older man but he still tried. When the workday finally ended Tate was ready to be showered in love bites and kisses as he had the past week. Instead, he was greeted by an angry, sobbing, blood-covered mess of a man. "J-Jack what's wrong?" "Th-they fucking-" All at once, like he had blacked out, Jack let out an angry yell and put his hands around Tate's neck. "J-ack." His grip started to get tighter, slowly cutting off the younger man's air supply. Scratching at his hands, trying to get him to come to, Tate was close to losing consciousness. "J-ack pl-ease." Finally, the older man had released his hold on Tate. Tate hit the floor, hunched over and holding his neck as he tried to catch his breath. "Fuck honey I'm so-" Jack reached a hand out to try to console him but Tate flinched back. Jack backed all the way to the wall and slid down it until he hit the floor.

With his head buried in his hands, Jack started to cry. "They-Angel is gone." Tate looked over at him, silently crying. "She told them to kill her. She told vault hunters to kill her." Tate crawled over to Jack, putting his arms around him. "I'm sorry." Words Tate never thought would come out of Handsome Jack's mouth. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Jack mumbled into Tate's neck. The pair sat by the gold penthouse door for hours, Jack curled in a ball in Tate's arms. After a while, Jack finally spoke. "This floor is hurting my ass." Tate smiled softly and kissed the older man's forehead. "I made pasta for us. Probably cold now but-" Jack cut him off abruptly with a deep kiss. After a moment and a needed breather, Tate pulled back. "Food first, yeah?" Jack pulled them both up and walked, hand in hand, to the kitchen. They sat quietly, holding hands as they ate. Tate didn't want to push any questions on the grieving man, he thought it'd be better to wait until he was ready. After their quiet dinner, Jack disappeared to the room to change into comfier clothes. 

Tate was shocked, to say the least when the older man walked in. Jack had taken his mask off. Tate walked over to him, taking in every detail of Jack's face. He reached his hand up to Jack's face, noticing how he flinched but didn't back away. His hand traced around the scar, the shape of a vault symbol. "Still just as Handsome." The younger man stroked Jack's cheek with his thumb. Tate leaned in, softly kissing Jack. His real lips felt so much softer than his masked ones. Tate wanted this moment to last. "How did it..?" "A story for another time cupcake." Jack kissed the younger man again, this time with more passion. "Let's go to the bedroom." Jack pulled Tate to his room, kissing on the younger man's neck, leaving a trail of purple and red love bites. When they finally made it to the room, Jack hastily worked his and Tate's clothes off. Throwing the last item of clothing behind him, he went back to kissing Tate, laying him down softly on the bed behind them. "Jack, I-" Jack cut Tate off with another round of kisses before pulling back. "Do you want to stop?" Jack held Tate's face. "N-no please keep going." 

A couple of hours later the pair now lay peacefully, tangled in the sheets, Tate's head laying on Jack's chest, listening to his heartbeat. "Please don't go anywhere." The younger man had broken the comfortable silence. "I won't pumpkin." Tate leaned up on his elbow, looking Jack directly in his eyes. "Promise me, Jack. Promise me you won't do something stupid and irrational. Promise me you'll stay." "You're asking a lot of me here honey." Tate looked at him with pleading eyes. Jack sighed and caressed the younger man's face, "I promise I won't go anywhere pumpkin." Jack pulled Tate in for a small kiss. "You should get some sleep princess, you have work tomorrow." Tate nodded and yawned. "You should too, love. Goodnight Jack." He laid his head back on Jack's chest, quickly dozing off. "Goodnight Tate." Jack couldn't sleep the whole night. His thoughts ran wild. _How am I going to get back at them? I just lied to Tate. I have to kill those vault hunters. I'll be back before Tate even knows I left. It's all gonna go fine. You'll go down there, open the vault, release the warrior, fix Pandora, and be back in time for dinner with Tate. I have to stay alive for him._ That morning when he left for work, he kissed Tate softly on the forehead. When he got to the office he recorded an audio log for Tate in case anything were to happen. "Meg, If I'm not back in a few hours, make sure Tate gets this. I've got some business to deal with on Pandora." "Of course sir." 

Tate sighed, "Finally, lunchtime." Today was his day to eat lunch with Rhys and Vaughn. They had set up a schedule so Tate and Yvette wouldn't have any more incidents. While in the elevator, he sent a message to Jack. _'Hope work is going okay love. Don't kill too many people. See you after.'_ As the doors opened, Tate was met by Meg. "Oh, he-" Meg cut him off with a bone-crushing hug and shoving something into his hands. "I'm sorry." With that, she quickly left. "Okay?" He shoved the unknown object into his jacket pocket. When he made it to the hub, he waved to Rhys and Vaughn waiting patiently for him at a table. "Attention Helios: We have just gotten word that Handsome Jack has died." Time slowed to a screeching stop. The people around Tate seemed to blur. His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach, threatening to spill onto the floor. "While in the process of opening a vault, the vault monster that was protecting him was killed. Vault hunters have killed Handsome Jack." Tate didn't know if he was going to vomit or cry. His legs caved beneath him, causing him to hit the floor. His ears started ringing, the floor felt like it was moving, his heart and world had just shattered around him and all he could do was sit on the floor. _Jack lied. He said he wouldn't leave. He promised. He can't be gone. He's Handsome Jack. He doesn't die._ Soon Tate was being pulled up by two unknown sources, "Tate, Tater-tot," Rhys held onto the unstable man. "Hey, Tate c'mon. Speak to me, bro." The two friends brought Tate back to his apartment, sitting in the living room and not leaving. 

Tate felt numb. He couldn't stand to look at the room around him. Everything in the apartment brought up a memory of Jack. His bed, his sweaters that Tate stole, the gold bracelet still sitting in the box on his dresser, even the smell of the man lingered on the clothes he was wearing. He had to leave. Leave the room, the space station, something. He thought for a moment if he should just airlock himself but decided against it. _Jack wouldn't want you to go that way._ On impulse, Tate started packing his clothes, shoving two of Jack's sweaters at the bottom. He gathered everything he could into the large duffle bag. He pulled the thing that Meg handed him out of his jacket, an audio log. He decided against listening to it and shoved it in his bag. While packing he looked at the bracelet, deciding if the memories were worth the heartbreak. Sighing, he put the gold bracelet on and finished up packing. After everything he could take was packed, he left a small note on the counter for Rhys and Vaughn. They were the only people left that would care if he disappeared. 

_Guys,_

_I'm sorry that it has to be this way but I'm leaving. Being on Helios is too much for me right now. I don't know where I'm going but I'll send you both a message when I get there. I love you both and I hope we'll see each other again soon. Stay here as long as you want, take whatever you want._

_Love, Tater-tot_

Quietly, as to not wake Rhys and Vaughn who were fast asleep on the couch, he left the apartment. To save himself from walking past a hundred posters of Jack, Tate fast traveled to the hanger bay. He bought the first ticket off of Helios, "Give me a ticket to anywhere as soon as possible, please." "Tate? Where are you going?" A familiar voice asked from behind Tate. He turned around, "Gladis? What are you doing here?" "Just came back from seeing family. Where are you headed?" "Where ever this ticket says." As if on cue the man in the ticket booth handed the ticket to Tate. "One-way ticket to Pandora. Leaves in five minutes." Gladis looked a bit shocked. "Pandora? Are you sure?" Tate sighed and adjusted the duffel bag on his shoulder. "Just, please be careful honey." Gladis hugged him tightly. "And give me a call if you ever need anything." Tate teared up a little and nodded. "Shuttle to Pandora now boarding!" Tate soon boarded the shuttle. Only one other person sat in the small shuttle. _It's been years since you were last in a shuttle like this. Maybe you can catch up with Moxxi._ Tate's thoughts wandered as the shuttle took off on its short journey. 

When he finally landed on Pandora, Tate went to the man at the desk. "Do you know where I could find Moxxi?" The man looked Tate up and down. "Yeah I do, but even if I tell you you won't get very far looking like that." Tate looked at his suit, he screamed Hyperion scum. "I got some clothes for ya don't worry." The man disappeared behind a door for a moment before returning with a box of clothes. "Some of 'em have a little blood on 'em but you'll be fine." Tate scavenged through the box, picking out the least bloody pieces. With a slightly torn t-shirt, jeans, boots, and a grey leather jacket, Tate looked pandora enough to got get shot on site. "Thanks for the clothes. What'd I owe you?" "Nothing. I was feeling generous today. Plus, you look like you're having a rough day." Tate nods. "Here, take this and some ammo." Handing Tate a corrosive pistol and ammo, he puts the location to Moxxi's bar on Tate's ECHOcom. "Here's the way to Moxxi's bar. I hope you find what you need." "Thank you." Tate leaves, making his way through the hot desert to his destination. 

A few hours later Tate had finally made it to a small town. Following the signs with Moxxi on them, he arrived at Moxxi's bar. Taking a deep breath he pushed open the door. It was as lively as the one on Elpis. People dancing near a pole, doing drugs at one corner table, and everyone with a drink in hand. Tate pushed his way through the crowd to the bar, nearly shouting over the loud music. "Hey um, could you get me Moxxi?" The girl cleaning cups puffed her chest out, trying to show off everything as she spoke. "Who's asking?" "A really old friend. Could you just get her, please?" The girl rolled her eyes and walked to the back behind a door. Tate sat awkwardly as he waited, looking around at the patrons of the bar. A few moments later Moxxi appeared, fixing her dress as she walked to the counter. "Yes, sugar what can i-Holy shit." Moxxi looked the same as always, face painted up, boobs high enough they could reach her ears. "Hey, Moxxi." Moxxi reached over the bar, pulling Tate across, shoving his head into her boobs as she hugged him tightly. "I thought I'd never see you again sugar." Tate tried to enjoy the hug but his ribs being crushed on the hard bar ruined it a bit. After Moxxi pulled away she held his face, "You look like you've been through shit." She let go and poured him a drink. "Let's go talk back here." She motioned to her office in the back. They sat down on the couch she had and Tate relaxed. "Catch me up, honey." 

A few drinks and a whole lot of talking later, Tate had told Moxxi everything that had lead up to this point. "Damn. Sounds like you got to see the real Jack." Tate threw back the shot she had just poured. "He lied to me, Mox. He said he wouldn't leave." She poured another shot and rubbed his shoulder. "He does that honey. When it came to Angel he tended to lose control easier than normal." Tate threw back the shot. "It hurts, Mox. Everything hurts." She wrapped her arms around Tate and hugged him tightly. "I know sugar. It's okay. Hey, how about you stay with me for a while huh?" Tate looked up at the woman. All of the memories from years ago came flooding back. Suddenly he felt ten years old again, sitting in front of the painted woman who was offering him a place to stay, crying, angry, and scared. "That'd be great Mox." She hugged him tightly again. 

The first week on Pandora went as well as expected. Tate spent the first day grieving which Moxxi expected but what she didn't expect was for Tate to wake up and act as nothing happened. Tate had gone from just snapped to fully cracked. For the rest of the week, Tate went around to random bandit camps, taking his emotions out by killing anyone he could. Moxxi thought he was grieving in his own way. She kept a close eye on him, making sure he didn't fully lose it. During the second week on Pandora, Tate thought he should start making money with all this killing he was doing. So, he started taking up bounties. The first bounty he nearly got caught, he tripped over a boobytrap causing every bandit to be on high alert the whole time. Thankfully he captured the person and made it out before anyone noticed. 

After a month or so of killing and capturing bandits, Tate got the hang of it all, even earning himself a reputation. Anyone who came in contact with him, that wasn't on the receiving end of his gun, named him Killer King. "He's one hell of a shot I'll tell you that. I heard he took out a whole bandit camp with just a revolver." A guy sat in Moxxi's bar talking about the new killer on Pandora. Moxxi just smiled and listened to the men talk. "Ain't no way he could. Has anyone ever seen this guy anyway?" Another man spoke. Tate overheard the conversation from his seat at the end of the bar and rolled his eyes. "I'm headin' out Mox. Got another call, some bandit overlord." Moxxi kissed Tate's cheek, "Be careful sugar. Dinner'll be in the fridge when you get home." Tate downed his shot before heading out for his mission. Most of the old Tate was gone, all that was left was a broken, cracked man who found their only joy in killing. 


	11. New offers and "Bad" people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some vault hunters come to Tate for help with a mission.

It has only been about three months since Tate moved to Pandora. The new name he went by kept him safe from anyone who might've known him, Moxxi was the only one who knew his past. His new reputation has caused new offers to pop up more often than when he first started. While Moxxi worked the bar one afternoon, a well-known vault hunter came in. "Hey Moxxi, you know where Killer King is?" "Hey, Athena I thought you were retiring?" "Bit complicated right now but anyway, could you get Killer for me? Lilith sent me to retrieve him, said he's good enough for this vault she wants to open." Moxxi froze for a moment but shook it and continued to serve drinks as she spoke. "I don't know sugar. Killer doesn't do vault jobs." Conveniently a scruffy, barely awake, Tate stumbled out of the backroom. "Hey, Mox." He scratched his head and grabbed a beer. "Are you Killer King?" Athena questioned. "Who's askin'?" He popped the cap off the beer and stood in front of Athena. "I forget you're new. I'm Athena, a vault hunter. The person who's asking for you is Lilith." Tate took a long sip from his beer, "What's she need me for?" "She's wanting to open a new vault." Moxxi expected Tate to reject the offer because of his hatred of vault hunters, that's what she expected at least. "I'd be getting a cut of whatever's in the vault correct?" Athena nodded. "When do you want to leave?" Tate finished off the bottle and lit a cigarette. "Lilith wants us there as soon as possible." "Sounds good, I'll go pack." Moxxi quickly followed Tate to the backroom. "Sugar don't you think you should think this over a bit more? It's vault hunters." "I know Mox but you used to work with vault hunters too." He took a long drag of his cigarette and started to pack his clothes and guns into his bag. "And it's good money and loot." "But what if they see your bracelet or find out who you are?" Tate slid his sleeve down. "You keep worrying about my name but I'm ninety-nine percent sure no one besides you knows my name or past." Moxxi sighed, knowing there was no convincing him. "I'm gonna be okay Mox, I promise. I'll open the vault, get the loot and money, and be back for dinner." The taller man leaned down and kissed Moxxi on the forehead and hugged her. He zipped up his bag and finished his cigarette. "I'll see you in a few days." 

The ride with Athena was quiet. Didn't seem like she was much for talking but Tate still tried. "So, Athena how long you been on Pandora?" Tate saw her grip the wheel, seemingly annoyed. "A long time. I live with my girlfriend though." Before Tate could respond with anything the car jolted to a stop. "We're here." Tate looked up at a floating town. The pair fast traveled up to the town and were met with a red-haired woman with intricate tattoos. Tate remembered when Jack would talk about how sirens were known by their tattoos. He assumed that's what her tattoos meant. "Welcome to Sanctuary Killer, I'm Lilith." Tate nodded a 'hello' and took out a cigarette, quickly lighting it up as the trio walked. Lilith went on about what was around the small town, where to get guns, medical help, and Scooter's garage. After the small tour, the group got to the meeting room, two other vault hunters were seated at a round table. "Brick, Mordecai, this is Killer. Killer, Brick, and Mordecai." Tate nodded again and stood against the wall as Lilith started the meeting. "So this vault key we had from a previous vault gave us a map to tons of vaults. The first vault we wanted to start on is called the Vault of the Reaper." Tate blew out a puff of smoke and flicked ashes onto the floor. "How long have you had this vault key? Why start looking for new vaults now?" Lilith looked at the lit-up table showing the map and zoned out. Brick then spoke up, "We got this thing like three months ago but we had some...mourning to do." "Sorry for your loss." Brick nodded. Lilith shook her head and continued to brief the group on the vault. "The vault monster that protects this thing not only has normal vault guardians but can bring them back from the dead continuously." Mordecai then spoke, "How the hell do we deal with that?" Lilith motioned to Tate and Athena, "Killer is a good shot and good at sneaking from what I hear, and Athena can help us take down enough of them fast enough for Killer to get into position and take down the vault monster." Tate finished his cigarette, smushing it under his boot. "I hope that's not too much for you, new kid." Brick jested. "I think if all of us work it should be fine." 

After the briefing, Tate decided to stop by Scooter's and see if he was there. Walking into the dingy garage, Tate looked around. The pinup calendar, the remnants of junk food, and silly country music playing reminded Tate of the hours he and Moxxi spent on video calls with Scooter years ago. Under a car, Scooter sang to himself as he worked. "Um, hello?" Scooter quickly rolled out and jumped up happily. "Welcome to Scooter's Catch a Riiiiide! How can I help you today?" When he finally got a good look at Tate he nearly screamed. "Well, I'll be dammed if it ain't lil ol' Tate." Tate quickly shushed him and gave him a hug. "I got a reputation remember? How ya been Scoot?" "Oh right heh sorry. I've been good, business is booming. Got new places popping up all over Pandora! Might be transferring to the one in Hollow Point soon though. How's Moxxi?" Tate rubbed the back of his neck. "She's good. The bar's been busier than ever can't really tell why." "Probably everybody partyin' since Handsome Jack is dead." Tate ground his teeth, "Ya reckon?" "Yeah, the guy caused enough problems on Pandora. Everyone deserves a drink now that he's gone." Tate bit the inside of his cheek, trying his hardest not to break Scooter's neck. It wasn't his fault, Tate just had a problem with Jack being brought up. "Yeah, well I oughta get going. Gotta rest up ya know. See ya later Scoot." "Tell Moxxi I said Hi when you get back." Tate waved goodbye and made his way to the motel. The vault hunters gave him a small room for free while he worked with them. He plopped his bag in the corner on a chair and took his jacket and boots off. The little gold bracelet slid down his wrist, the charm dancing in the light. Tate sighed sadly and talked to the bracelet, "Let's try to actually sleep tonight yeah?" He shimmied off his jeans, unhooked his robotic hand, and laid on the sheets slowly dozing off. 

The room lit up around Tate. In front of him laid Jack, lifeless and cold. He tried to move, get closer to Jack but he was tied down in a chair. "No not this again please!" A dark figure approached Jack's body, "You couldn't save him. He didn't want you. He lied to you and left you." "He wanted me. He cared for me!" "Are you really sure about that? Didn't he strangle you?" Just then Jack got up, his eyes were white and lifeless, his body was rotting. "That's not Jack." He flashed in front of Tate and wrapped his hands around his neck, tightening his grip. "Does this look like the same man who 'cared for you'?" Tate struggled against the zombie Jack's hands. "H-e loved me." His hands gripped tighter, crushing Tate's windpipe. "Handsome Jack loves no one. Not. Even. You." The zombie Jack laughed maniacally as Tate lost full consciousness. 

Tate jumped out of his bed in a cold sweat, tears on his face. He tried to slow his breathing as he looked at the clock on the nightstand, 3:37 am. "Fuck." He ran his hand through his hair before hooking up his robotic hand. "Can't have one full night can I?" He looked at the small bracelet. No response as normal. Tate sat there on the edge of the bed, debating if he should try to sleep again or just go drink. A call popping up on his robotic hand pulled him out of his thoughts. 'Rhys Strongfork calling...' Tate declined the call, getting up to pull on his pants and shoes. Tate promised to send a message to Rhys and Vaughn when he got to wherever he was going but once he got to Pandora, he couldn't bring himself to do it. The old Tate was gone. That meant every tie to Hyperion, his old life, all of his old clothes. Everything. The guilt got to him for the first few weeks. But once he started to drown himself in alcohol and the blood of random bandits, it didn't seem to hurt as much. He kept telling himself one day he'd grow the balls to answer the phone but today was not that day. Tate pulled on his jacket and left for the bar hoping to drink away his nightmares. 

When he got to the bar he noticed how alive it was for nearly four in the morning. "What can I do ya for hun?" Tate sat on the barstool and took out a cigarette and his lighter. "Anything that's strong." The waitress puffed her chest out and fixed a glass of whiskey. "Somethin' troublin' ya? Ya know there's always other ways to get your mind off of it." She slid the drink over and leaned her chest against the bar. Tate put his unlit cigarette behind his ear and took a sip from his drink. "No thanks sugar, but keep these comin' please." The waitress sighed and went to help other patrons. "You look like you're going through it." A man sat next to Tate faced him. "Yeah, I'm always going through something." "How come? Handsome Jack is dead and gone thanks to Lilith and her crew! Pandora's biggest problem is gone!" The bar's patrons cheered in response. Tate's eye twitched. "Lilith killed him?" "Yeah the vault hunter had the last shot but Lilith used her siren powers to kill him." Tate's teeth could've broken with how hard he was grinding them. Tate downed the last of the drink, shoving his lighter in his pocket, and marched out of the bar. "Fucking piece of pandorian shit." He muttered under his breath. Not wanting to blow the chance of getting money and loot, Tate fast traveled off Sanctuary and took a car to the nearest bandit camp. The only gun he had on him was his shock pistol but truly that's all he needed. 

When he got to the bandit camp he didn't sneak in, he wasn't even quiet. He went in gun blazing, shooting everyone he saw. Heads exploding, bodies frying from electrocution, and Tate laughing the whole time. "Fucking pandorian shit!" His shield was barely taking any hits as he shot and ran through the camp. "Taking away the only person who loved me!" He had gotten through nearly the whole camp before the bandit leader had shown up. Tate had set off their own traps around him, killing the bandits that were protecting the leader. "Do you know what you've taken from me?!" Tate was mindlessly screaming at the leader now. "We didn't take anything from you! Please don't kill me!" Tate knocked the leader to the floor and pinned him down. "You've taken everything." He started wailing on the bandit, punching him and hitting him with his gun over and over. "My life!" Punch. "My home!" Broken nose. "My Jack!" Broken jaw. "Fucking everything." Tate moved off the wounded bandit and stood above him. "Who am I!?" He cocked his gun. The bandit said something resembling 'Killer King'. "I am the Fucking King!" Tate pulled the trigger and shot the bandit, his head exploding, sending blood everywhere, most of it covering Tate. "All hail the King. Heh." He looked around at the dead bodies. He laughed and wiped the blood from his mouth. Looking down at his bracelet, "Let's head back yeah?" Tate walked back to the car and headed back to Sanctuary. 

He might've let his emotions out on those bandits but he was still angry with Lilith. He had a mission to do, then maybe he'd kill Lilith. He made it back to the motel room to change and shower before the meeting. He ruined his leather jacket with blood that he didn't have time to clean so he just wore a short-sleeved shirt with his jeans and boots. His bracelet wasn't that noticeable so he shrugged it off and grabbed the guns he needed, heading out for the mission. They got to their destination quickly, Tate making sure he kept his distance from Lilith. "Alright so everyone knows the plan right? Mordecai and Killer work on taking out as many as you can at first so Athena, Brick, and I can all make it in. Then Athena you'll shield us enough so that we can keep the guardians distracted long enough for Killer to sneak in and take out the monster." Everyone nodded in agreeance, Brick getting hyped up, Athena charging up her shield, Mordecai taking a swing from his flask, and Tate shaking his hand to make the bracelet fall down his arm. Lilith took a small note of how 'Killer' was acting and how he felt about his bracelet.

The group soon got started on opening the vault. When they placed the key in, the vault appeared and opened, a large plague doctor looking monster crawled out, it's smaller guardians flooding out quickly. "Mordecai, Killer get to your spots quickly!" Lilith shouted into her ECHOcom. The two made it to their spots on the higher cliffs, aiming carefully with their sniper rifles. Tate shot as many as he could, making sure they were down long enough before the monster resurrected them. The group below pushed their way closer to the vault. They fought the guardians, Athena blocking as many as she could. "Killer your time to shine." Brick announced in his ECHOcom. Tate sighed and rushed off the cliff, sneaking just close enough behind the monster. He did as much damage as he could with his rifle before it ran out of ammo, "Fuck." He hid behind a boulder changing his gun and loading it before shooting at the monster again. "Hurry up and kill this thing already, my shield is gonna die!" Athena yelled. Not much longer and the vault monster went down, his guardians disappearing and fading around him. "Thank god," Mordecai said as the group stood in front of the vault. "Who's going in first?" Tate fidgeted with his bracelet. "I really only came for the money and the loot, y'all go ahead." Brick, Mordecai, and Athena rushed in, grabbing loot on the way. "What's this?" Lilith grabbed Tate's wrist and examined the bracelet.

"A gift." "Really? 'Cause, it looks like you're Hyperion." Tate gulped, robotic hand itching for his gun. "Do I look Hyperion?" "No, but everyone can play dress-up can't they? When did you get here? Three, four months ago?" Tate's hand balled into a fist. "Right after I killed that piece of shit Handsome Jack. Wonder if you had any ties to him. Probably not since he cared about no one but himself." Lilith walked around Tate in a circle like a vulture over a fresh kill. "That's not true," Tate mumbled. "What was that?" "That's. Not. True." Tate clenched his jaw. "Why do you think that? Cause he glanced your way or something? Or did he have something with you?" Lilith was laughing at him. "What's your real name huh? Gotta have one right?" "Why should you know? That's not who I am anymore." "Lemme guess, Kyle? No, what about Chad? No, no Jack wouldn't mess with anyone with that name. Who's name did he say when he took his last breath?" The group had now walked out of the vault, holding their loot and all. "Oh, I know! Tate that's what that fucker said when he died." Lilith mocked Jack morbidly, "Tate, Tate I'm sorry. Hahaha!" Lilith laughed loudly. "What's going on over here?" Athena looked at Tate who had murder in his eyes. "This person here, 'Killer King', used to work for Hyperion. I'm trying to figure out his name though." Lilith laughed again. "My name is Tate. This bracelet was a gift from Jack." Athena looked at Tate. He was sad, angry, broken, and Lilith was laughing at him. "Lil, I think that's enough. Just let the kid get his stuff and go." Mordecai looked at the sad kid. "Let him go? Let him go?! He sympathizes with Handsome Jack! Probably even dated him! Then came down to Pandora and now he thinks he's some bigshot!" Tate really couldn't take anymore from Lilith but he couldn't move. "Lilith just let him go. Jack is dead, Tate is killing bandits for us, and he isn't Hyperion anymore." Lilith looked at the group then looked at Tate, "Fine. Take your stuff. Go, but I don't want to see you in Sanctuary again." Tate grabbed all that he could of loot and money, took a car to Sanctuary, got his stuff, and left. 

Tate made his way back to Moxxi's bar, busting through the doors. "Where's Moxxi?" The slightly scared worker behind the bar pointed to the room where she took her "clients". Tate marched and pushed through the bar and kicked open the door. Moxxi was on top of some guy with her dress pulled past her chest. "You out. Pay the girl at the bar." Tate picked the guy up by his shirt and threw him out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Moxxi quickly fixed her dress about to yell at Tate until she saw him crying, fists balled up. "Why didn't you tell me Lilith killed Jack?" "Oh sugar I-" "Why didn't you tell me?! I had to find out myself, had to be humiliated. They found out my name and how I'm ex-Hyperion." Moxxi saw how angry Tate was and tried to choose her words carefully. "I wanted to tell you but you were so dead set on getting money for us." Tate looked at the floor, tears falling to the hardwood. "Did you know that Jack's last words were 'Tate I'm sorry'?" Moxxi walked over to the angry man, grabbing his hand softly. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry." She hugged him tightly. Tate relaxed into the hug and wrapped his arms around her, a hard sob finally leaving his chest. Tate cried for hours. Tears that hadn't fallen in three months. Moxxi rubbed Tate's back as he cried, comforting him the best she could. After a while, Tate stopped crying and Moxxi offered to get him food. Tate sat on the floor as he waited for Moxxi to come back. She came back a moment later with two bowls of rice and chicken, smiling at Tate. "Always made Scooter and Ellie feel better when they were kids." She handed the bowl to Tate, a soft smile spread across his face. "Thank you, Mox." The pair sat on the floor, the loud music of the bar thumping on the other side of the door as they ate.

"Hey Mox," Tate said, breaking the silence. "Yes, sugar?" "I, I think I'm gonna stop bounty hunting for a while." "That's fine honey I'm always here for you." Moxxi smiled at Tate and continued eating. Maybe Tate could move to Hollow Point and get a job there. Tate could get better, find a new way to cope. 


	12. Growth and the Passing Months

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tate moves to Hollow Point to add a change to his life and meets some new people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //TW// Talk of suicide and an almost attempt. If you're easily triggered by that please don't read.

A couple of weeks after the vault incident, Tate moved out of the apartment he and Moxxi shared and moved to Hollow Point. Moxxi was sad to see him leave but she knew it was good for him. "Just call me if you need anything at all, okay? And I'll call the manager of the bar there and you can have a job. I'll miss you so much sugar." She nearly squeezed the life out of him before he left for Hollow Point. That was all about three weeks ago. Now he lived semi comfortably in his own small, one-bedroom apartment again with a stable enough job as manager of the bar. Tate stood behind the bar, drying a glass with the rag he kept on his shoulder. A man came up to him asking for the girl he worked with. "Cherry, someone's askin' for ya." His blonde, well-endowed, coworker skipped from the backroom to him. "What's up Killer?" Tate pointed to the sleazy man in front of him. "Oh! Okay. Be back in twenty." Cherry winked and grabbed the random man's hand and rushed to the "client" room. "So that's not just a Moxxi thing?" A short-haired girl with a white hat startled Tate. "Yeah, she's kinda like a pimp." "Weird. To each their own I guess." She shrugged and sat down. "What can I do ya for?" The girl looked up at the menu on the wall. "What's the 'Studded Stactus'?" "A fruity drink. It's got coconut rum and pineapple vodka in it." "I'll take one."

Tate nodded and started pouring the drink into the shaker with ice. He put the lid on and flipped the cup as he shook it. He strained the drink into a different glass and topped it with a cherry. "Here ya are." He slid the drink to her. Cherry and the sleazy man came out of the "client" room, Cherry trying to fix her small shirt. The man slipped some money to Tate and left quickly. "How long was that?" Tate looked at his watch. "About five minutes. You're getting better." The hat lady looked at the pair weirdly as she sipped her drink. "I'm gonna go serve food now, yell if there's another offer." Tate nodded and went back to grabbing people's beers and making vodka sodas. "What was that about?" Hat lady had now finished her drink. "She doesn't like most of the guys that come in here for her so," Tate shook up and strained another 'Studded Stactus' for her. "She and I made it a game. How fast can she finish these guys up and make it good? Five minutes is a new record for her." Hat lady took another sip of her drink and smiled. "Whatever works I guess." Tate threw the rag over his shoulder and grabbed a beer, popping it open and taking a large gulp. "I'm Fiona." She stuck out her hand, Tate grabbing it with his free hand, the metal cold on Fiona's hand. "I'm Killer." 

A week later Tate had met Fiona's sister, Sasha. She was stubborn like her older sister and just as kind. Tate soon found out that they were both 'Con-artists', thankfully they didn't try to con him, just some poor sucker in the bar. He has now known the pair and their friend Felix for a month. He has now been on Pandora for about five months. Everything was going pretty well for the most part. The bar was thriving, he hasn't had to kill anyone in two months, he hasn't had any episodes in a while either. The main problem he had was his night terrors and inability to sleep for more than twenty minutes. Tate laid on a couch in his office, a trucker hat Scooter gave him covering his eyes. He started to doze off, finally getting his nap in. But, like usual, the sleep didn't last long. He started moving in his sleep like he was trying to get away from something. "St-stop." In all his moving he rolled himself off the couch, hitting the floor with a hard thump. He woke up and rubbed his head, "Ow." There was a rapid knock against the door before it swung open. "Hey sorry to bo-Why are you on the floor?" His other coworker, a girl named Sweetpea, looked down at him. "Fell off the couch," Tate got off the floor and put his hat on backward. "What's going on?" "Oh right! There's a guy downstairs I don't know his name, but he won't pay Cherry. Says it wasn't good enough." Tate sighed and grabbed his gun, sliding it into the empty holster on his hip. The pair walked down the stairs, Sweetpea's heels clicking loudly on each step. 

"What seems to be the problem here?" Tate walked into the crowded bar, Cherry standing angrily with her hands on her hips in front of some bandit. "This guy won't pay me!" "This bitch doesn't deserve her payment!" Tate stepped in front of Cherry, "Language buddy. Now, you had sex with her right?" "Yeah but-" "And you finished right?" "Yeah but it wasn't-" "It's not her fault you couldn't last long enough for it to be 'enjoyable'." Tate crossed his arms, watching how the bandit got angrier. "You had sex with her, you finished, you have to pay. That's the rules dipshit." The bandit drew his gun on Tate. He didn't flinch. "That bitch doesn't deserve her pay and you deserve to die." The bar grew quiet waiting to see what would play out. Tate kicked the bandit's leg, grabbing his hand that held the gun as he fell. He snapped his arm at his elbow and grabbed the gun, aiming it at his head. The bandit screamed out in pain. "Do you know who I am?" Tate shot him in the leg, watching him lay on the floor writhing in pain. "I'm Killer fucking King." He shot the bandit in the head, the body slumping to the floor. Tate looked around at the bar's patrons, "What are yall looking at?" The people that were staring looked away quickly and the music started back up filling the silence. Tate reached down and took money out of the bandit's pockets. "Four hundred. You two split it." He handed the money to Sweetpea and Cherry, walking to the bar to grab a bottle of whiskey before heading back to his office. He plopped onto the couch with a heavy sigh. He ran his hand through his hair, "Man I really need a haircut." Tate tipped the bottle back, taking a long swig. "Fucking bandits." 

Another month on Pandora passed slowly. Six months without Jack. Somedays Tate could go the whole day without thinking about him, today was not one of those days. Tate sat alone in his dark, cold apartment wearing one of Jack's old sweaters and his boxers. He called out from work, being the manager made it easy to do that. All he wanted to do was curl into a ball and sleep. Maybe he'd wake up and this would all be a dream. Jack would be by his side sleeping, his smell filling his nose. Oh, how Tate wished he could smell Jack's expensive cologne again. The scent has long faded from the sweaters and his duffle bag. His duffle bag. Tate jumped up from his place on the bed. "Where is that thing?" Tate searched the messy room, throwing things out of the closet. "There is it!" Tate pulled the large duffle bag out from the bottom of the closet. When he unzipped it there wasn't much in there, a couple of pairs of socks, his old work outfit, and the audio log Meg gave him. "Might as well listen to it now." Tate crawled over to the end of his bed and sat in front of it, his legs crisscrossed. He clicked play.

"Uh, hey honey." 

Tate inhaled sharply.

"If Meg gave this to you then that means," Jack went quiet for a moment.

"It means I'm...gone." Jack sighed. "I'm so sorry pumpkin. I should've told you what I was doing."

Tears threatened to fall from Tate's honey brown eyes.

"I wanted to keep you safe from all the bad shit I've been doing lately. There's a fine line you and I sit on, pumpkin. The line between full-blown psycho and just mentally disturbed."

"I didn't want you involved in it because I see what my being around you is doing. You're cracking pumpkin." 

Tate softly chuckled. _If only Jack could see me now._

"I'm going down to Pandora with the mindset that I'm gonna come back, saving Pandora, opened the vault, and come back to your sweet, gorgeous, face." Jack sounded like he was on the brink of tears. 

"Hopefully I came back from all this. Killed Lilith and her crew, made sweet, hot, passionate love to you, and at some point maybe even put a ring on your finger."

Tate was fully crying now. His hand over his mouth to muffle the sad sounds.

"My wish is that you'll never have to hear this. But if you are, you probably waited a while to actually do it. I hope you take my place when I'm gone. I also hope you didn't do anything stupid like throwing yourself out of an airlock or shaving your head heh." Jack sniffled and lightly chuckled. A beep was heard in the background.

"That's my cue," Jack took a deep breath. "Tate, I want you to know that I..I love you. You've made me the happiest I've been in a long long time." Another beep was heard. "Alright alright, I'm coming. I love you, honey. I hope you're safe and happy where ever you are now. Goodbye, Tate."

The audio log clicked off. Tate was full-on sobbing. He set the audio log down, curling into a ball on the hard floor. Jack's goodbye to Tate. A comforting voice he hadn't heard in so long, a voice that said he loved him, a voice he would never get to hear again, had just said goodbye for the last time. He had no one there to comfort him while he cried. No Rhys and Vaughn. No Moxxi. No Jack. Tate wanted to die. A feeling he's felt nearly every day since Jack died finally reached its peak. While sobbing, Tate grabbed his revolver, taking out every bullet except one. He spun the cylinder, pulled back the hammer, and put the gun to his head. He pulled the trigger. A loud click. Nothing. Tate spun it again, repeating the same steps. Another loud click. "Fucking-" He threw the gun at the wall, making a small dent. Tate raked his hands through his hair and pulled. "Why did you fucking leave?!" Tate screamed at the wall. That night he laid on the floor, surrounded by his depressive mess, sobbing the whole night. 

Another two boring months passed, eight months since Tate moved to this nacho flavored shit-hole of a planet. Sasha walked into the bar, sitting in front of Tate happily. "What's got you so giddy sugar?" "Felix, Fi, and I are working on this big con." Tate smiled and handed her the usual fruity drink. She took a big sip, "We may need you for backup though when the time comes." Tate wiped the bar down. "I'd be happy to join, been bored somethin' awful lately." Sasha smiled and took another sip. "I'm supposed to be meeting the guy a part of our big con in like a week or so." "Well, what's the plan?" She leans in closely, Tate leaning in too. "We're gonna screw over some Hyperion douchebag." Tate thought to himself, _They kinda deserve it._ "This guy I'm gonna meet, August, he knows some bigshot there. I flirted with him a while ago and he asked me on a date. Gotta get close to him to be a part of this deal." Tate looked back kinda shocked, a little impressed. "How does Fiona fit into this? Doesn't she have a bounty over her head right now?" Tate handed a beer to a waiting customer. "Yeah but not everyone knows. She's gonna pretend to be an archeologist who finds a vault key." Tate knew this was the biggest con they've ever done. "No wonder yall want me as backup. This shit is big." Tate raised his glass of whiskey, Sasha did the same. "To hoping your scheme goes well." The pair clinked their glasses. 

A week later, Sasha came into the bar with the blonde guy named August. "Oh, who's this princess?" Tate joked with Cherry. Tate took a swing of his drink and walked with Cherry, over to Sasha and August to take their orders. "What can I get for you two?" Cherry spoke happily. "I'll have my usual drink and a side of fries." Sasha looked over to August, "I'll have anything that's the strongest and a burger." Cherry nodded and swayed off to the kitchen. "Hey Sash," "Damn you're Killer King." August fanboyed quietly over Tate. "In the flesh." "Killer is one of my friends. Met him a few months ago." "What's a bounty hunter like you doin' in a bar like this?" Tate smirked and crossed his arms, "This is my bar. I'm the manager and part-owner." "Oh! Well, it's a nice bar. I own the 'Purple Skag' downtown." Cherry came back with the drinks and food. "Well, I'll leave yall to it. Got work to do. Yell if ya need anything Sash." Tate walked back behind the bar, keeping an eye on the couple in the booth. 

Nine months on Pandora. Sasha got closer to August, always assuring Tate that she "wasn't gaining feelings for the guy" but Tate could tell that underneath that hard exterior was a sweet, soft girl who just wanted some sort of love. Tate used to be the same way. After Jack died, Tate felt like no one would ever compare to him. That and it's Pandora, there are not many good options for guys on this planet. He's had his fair share of ladies try to flirt with him, he always turned them down. Not because they're ugly, because some of them were really attractive to Tate, but because Tate just couldn't imagine himself with anyone but Jack. "Hey hot stuff," A red-headed man stood in front of Tate. "Hey, what can I get ya sugar?" Tate threw the bar rag on his shoulder. "Are you on the menu?" Tate chuckled and leaned against the counter behind him, crossing his arms. "Regrettably no, I'm not." The man did a fake pout and sat down. "I'll have a vodka soda." Tate poured the drink and slid it to the man. The man grabbed Tate's wrist lightly, "Hey what's-" Tate jerked his hand away. "Don't touch me." The man laughed a bit and went to grab at Tate again. Tate grabbed the guy's hand with his robotic one, "Oou, cool hand." Tate tightened his grip. "H-hey you're hurting me." "Good." Tate tightened his grip until he heard multiple cracking noises. "OW WHAT THE FUCK?!" The man screamed in pain and Tate laughed. "Now you know not to touch someone after they said no." Tate let go and laughed loudly, watching as the guy scrambled to get out of the bar. 

The next month and a half passed quickly. About eleven months, nearly a year on Pandora. Each day Fiona came in talking about the big con and how close it was getting. "Felix says that everything is coming together too quickly. I think we've taken long enough but Sasha had to build up a story for me." "I know. I'm worried about Sasha though. Do you think she's getting too attached to this August guy?" Fiona ate a fry, "She was for a little while there but we just found out how much money we're getting for this fake vault key." She leaned in and whispered, "Ten. Million. Dollars." Tate nearly dropped the glass in his hand. "It'll be split three ways between August, Sash, and I." "Just...be careful okay?" Fiona waved a hand at him dismissively. "It's gonna be fine. August won't find out, Hyperion will be screwed over, and we have you for backup." Tate sighed, the stress being a little overwhelming. Tate poured himself a glass of vodka and knocked it back quickly. "It'll be fine Killer don't worry." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very excited about the next few chapters. The stuff in them will be mostly canon stuff from the Tales from the Borderlands game. A lot of the dialogue will be from the game but I'll obviously be adding my own twist to it all.


	13. Old faces, even more problems.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tate waits around in Prosperity Junction waiting for the deal to finish when an unexpected pair are thrown into the mix.

Tate wrapped a bandana around his face, covering his mouth and nose. "What's that for?" Fiona sat comfortably in her seat, leaned back. "I'm gonna wait in town while this goes down, bad reputation with bandits and all that. Felix said he'd message me if anything went down." Felix tinkered away with some device in the driver's seat. "He's only here for back up. I didn't think he needed to stay here the whole time." Fiona shrugged and tipped her hat over her eyes relaxing further into her chair. Tate waved goodbye and walked into the dingy town. He walked past a greasy man grilling skag meat, trying to not make direct eye contact. Tate soon walked into a small, empty, and rundown diner. He sat in an empty booth, looking at the menu, nothing being appetizing. "What can I do ya for darlin'?" A waitress walked over with a half-smile. "Cup of coffee will do, thanks." The waitress left and came back seconds later with a mug, pouring Tate coffee. "What brings you to Prosperity Junction?" Tate poured an unhealthy amount of sugar into his cup as she spoke. "Just here to help some friends out. Thought I'd pass the time, see the sights." The woman smiled, "Well if you want any food just holler. You look so skinny, hun." The woman walked away to the kitchen, Tate assumed he was safe enough so he took the bandana off and sipped at his coffee. The quiet music playing from the jukebox in the corner was disturbed by loud gunshots and yelling. The waitress ran out of the kitchen, the cook following behind. "What's all that noise?!" "Probably some bandits honey, if they come in we'll hide in the kitchen again." Tate looked at the couple with a sad look and thought to himself. _Funny how everyone thought Jack was the biggest problem on this planet._

Back at the "World of Curiosities' Sasha listened to August gripe. "Hyperion guys are usually so punctual. You think he's standin' us up, babe?" Sasha sighed, "Of course not honey, why would he? It's a vault key." Meanwhile, in the caravan, Fiona was mentally gagging at the awkward interaction. "I can't wait till this is all over and I won't have to see August's annoying nose piercing ever again." Felix chuckled lightly and focused on the radar on the dash. A conversation is heard over the speaker, Fiona perks up and tilts her hat up. "Alright, we're on." Felix and Fiona sit at attention in their chairs, listening to the deal happen. "There are two guys here, but neither of them is Vasquez," Sasha whispers into her comm. "He may have sent some lackeys. Didn't want to get his hands dirty." Fiona stands next to Felix, crossing her arms. "Oh, dammit. One of them has an ECHO-eye implant. If he scans it he's gonna know it's a fake." Fiona and Felix looked at each other worriedly.

Tate sat in the diner for about thirty minutes, eating a plate of scrambled eggs he ordered. Loud shots and yelling are heard over his comm, "Killer get over here. The deal went to shit." Felix yelled. Tate sighed, putting his bandana back on, got up, leaving money on the table, and ran back to the caravan. When he arrived the whole wall had been torn down and Bossanova was sat in the tactical that caused it. Zero was also there trying to kill the bandit overlord. "Fucking hell." Tate ran in with his gun, shooting psychos in the head. So many people were running around that Tate didn't notice the two figures running to the caravan. "Fi? Sasha?" Tate watched as Zero sliced three psychos in half. "Hello there Killer." "Howdy Zero," Tate shot at another psycho rushing at him. "Happen to see two girls and an old guy?" He sliced another psycho and pointed. "By the vent and by the blonde." Tate nodded and ran to Fiona, "Hey what-" "You!" August struggles to get up and points his gun at Felix and Sasha. Felix threw a smoke grenade but August still shot at the two, Felix swung around quickly and blocked the bullet from hitting Sasha. "Shit!" Fiona and Tate ran to the two, trying to usher them to the caravan. August still shot at them and Fiona contemplated shooting but changed her mind and ran. Tate on the other hand, bought the group some time and shot August in the shoulder. Tate smiled behind the bandana and caught up to the trio who were helping an angry Felix. 

"We'll get that bandaged. Okay now, easy, easy!" Sasha and Fiona walked Felix carefully up to the caravan. "Sasha! I'm fine! Sasha," The group walked into the caravan. "Thanks, but I'm fine. Let's just not have any more surprises today." Tate and the others looked over to the pair of idiots trying to start the caravan. "Oh come on. Are you really trying to steal our caravan?" The pair turned around. Tate's eyes nearly popped out of his head, " Now, now, now, hold on, it's-it's not what it looks-Okay, it is, but I am really sorry, okay?" Rhys stood worried in front of them. Vaughn looking like he might pee himself. "Give us one good reason why we shouldn't shoot you and drag your bodies out the door?" Sasha crossed her arms. A shot hit the metal exterior of the caravan. "That's one reason." Tate looked out the door, a wounded August held his shoulder as he shot at them. "Hey! We're not done here!" Tate runs to shut the door as Felix pushes Rhys and Vaughn out of the way, starting the vehicle up. August tries to pry the door open, Tate holding on the best he can. "I don't like it when people lie to me! You should never, ever lie to me, Sasha!" Tate wacks August's hand with his gun and slams the door shut. "Drive!" Fiona shouts. "Where?" "Away from here!" Felix hits the gas, August still shooting at the van as they speed off. 

Fiona points her gun at a seated Vaughn, Sasha grabs Rhys, holding him out the door as he grips for dear life. "We should just shoot them first!" Rhys struggles against Sasha's grip. "Save the bullet. The fall will definitely kill them." "Guys I don't think we should kill em'," Tate speaks up, leaning against the wall and trying not to blow his cover. "Why not?!" "They might be able to find the money for us." Vaughn looks at the masked Tate, unable to recognize him but noticing the familiarity in his voice. "We can! The case has a tracker in it!" Felix looks over at Rhys for a brief moment, "Let him back in." Tate lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Even if you can find the case and get it back there's no way you can open it." "It has a top-of-the-line biometric lock. It's impossible to open without me and my passcodes." Felix scoffed. "Get it into my hands, I can open it." Rhys sighs, "If you say so. Getting the case is the hard part." "Alright, then Hyperion. Prove it. Find the money." Rhys looked nervous, "Yeah, no problem." "Oh, call Yvette!" Tate grimaced at the name. Rhys nodded and went to call Yvette on his palm. "You wanna call more Hyperion after us?" "Calm down, Sasha. Let's see what they can do." Rhys smiled, "Thank you." "And then kill them if they try to betray us." Rhys' smile dropped and gulped, finally calling Yvette.

"Rhys, what the hell is going on down there? You were supposed to do the deal then come right back. People are looking for you now." Tate ground his teeth, her voice sounded like the screech of a dying skag. "Hi to you too." Vaughn scoffed. "Oh, we're fine, we're fine. Just hit a minor setback in the plan." Yvette raised her voice again. "A minor setback? That's not what it looks like from up here. Vasquez was already pissed enough about the car. That was before he got the call from this "August" guy. You two have been blacklisted up here, and it's only gonna get worse the more Vasquez keeps yelling." Rhys shot a worried look at Vaughn. "Can't you do anything?" Vaughn asked. "Not without implicating all three of us. I already had security asking me for everything I know. You two are gonna need me to get back to Helios once you clean up this mess. You do know how to clean up this mess, right?" Rhys fake smiles. "Don't worry, we've got a plan." "We do?" Rhys glares at Vaughn. "I shouldn't be talking to you this long; they'll trace the signal." Rhys nods, "Watch your back up there, okay?" "I will, please try not to get yourselves killed alright?" Rhys hangs up and sighs. 

"How are we supposed to get an ID from another employee? We're not allowed to talk to other employees!" Vaughn throws his arms up in defeat. "So you've got nothing?" Sasha pushes Rhys out the door again, "Out you go!" "Wait!" Tate yelled, the whole group now looking at him. "Can't you, I don't know, install someone else's credentials? I think you're the only two Hyperion guys left on the planet though." Tate tried to play it as cool as he could but truly he was terrified his new friends would kill his old Hyperion friends. Rhys finally spoke up, "I still have Nakayama's ID drive! Creepy black-ops projects like that have to be higher security clearance than us." _That name, Nakayama. Why's that sound familiar?_ Tate thinks to himself. Fiona scoffs, "Look. Just give up the act, Hyperion. You're just trying to stall us, and we're not buying it." Rhys shakes his head, "What? No. With this, I'm going to be able to take us straight to the money." Sasha sighs and pulls Rhys back in, closing the door as he falls on the floor. He gets up and pulls out the ID drive, putting it up to his port. "I hope this works." Once the drive is in, Rhys seizes up, almost like he was electrocuted, making awful noises he falls to the floor. Fiona puts down her gun, "Now what do we do?" Sasha shrugs. "You, can you track the money?" She looks over at Vaughn. "I can try." 

While Vaughn worked on tracking the money, Tate pulled Fiona over behind the partition. "Fi I need to know that I can count on you." Fiona gives him a concerned and questioning look. "Of course, what's going on?" "I know these guys. They're from...from my past." Fiona raised an eyebrow at him. "I know it sounds bad but I need to get away from them as soon as possible okay?" Fiona looked at him, squinting her eyes. "Fine. But you need to help us get the money first." Tate put out his hand, "Deal." Fiona shook his hand. "Hey, guys! I tracked the money, we're almost there." The pair walked from behind the partition. "What'cha got?" Fiona walked toward the small man, carefully stepping over the drooling and unconscious Rhys. "It's at some warehouse." Felix soon stopped the van putting it in park. "We're here, stay low." The group walked over Rhys and walked out to the edge of the cliff and crouched, looking down at the hundreds of bandits and psychos. "There's so many of them," Vaughn whispered. "What the hell are they all doing here?" The caravan door opened, a confused Rhys stepping out. "Uh, what happened?" Fiona stood up, crossing her arms facing him. "I don't know if passing out and drooling is what you meant by "hope this works," but if it was congratulations!" Rhys rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. "I tracked the money while you were out." "Quiet all of you. This place is crawling with bandits." Fiona crouches back down beside Felix, Sasha, and Tate. Rhys and Vaughn talked for a moment before joining the group. "So the case is down there?" Tate whispered. "Somewhere." "Wow, what is this place?" Sasha looked at the huge warehouse. "Looks like an old abandoned Atlas warehouse." "Doesn't look abandoned to me," Felix said. "Looks like every bandit on this side of Pandora is here." Tate sighed. "Not really good to have a well-known bandit killer and bounty hunter with us." Felix shot Tate an annoyed look. _What's with the sudden tension?_

A masked bandit approaches the trio. "Hey! Get away from that!" Fiona panics and slams the hatch shut. "An odd group, we got Glasses Face, Hat Lady, and Mystery Man. You guys really know how to accessorize. What are you three doing here?" Vaughn stutters trying to come up with a reason. "Oh, hey um. Huh, this is a funny story actually, So we're her-uh, we're here for, What was the question?" Fiona surprises Tate with how fast she makes up a bullshit lie. "We're right where we belong." "Oh, okay... so you're drivers?" "What do you think?" Tate nearly facepalmed. "Uh, you don't really look like drivers." "Oh, really?! How would you know?" Tate held the bridge of his nose, _She's gonna get us killed._ "It's kinda my thing. I prep the cars, so I see a lot of drivers." Vaughn turns to Fiona and Tate. "Prepping cars, huh? Sounds pretty interesting." "Are you three drivers or what?" The trio look at each other, the masked bandit approaching Vaughn. "Sorry, I realize this is rude, but I really don't like your face." Vaughn smiles and sighs, "Yeah, I get that a lot." The bandit steps closer. Tate rests his hand on his pistol. "Not one bit. You just always look like you stepped in something." Vaughn stops smiling. "That's just my resting face." Fiona steps in front of the bandit, finally speaking up. "Just get my damn car or-vehicle or whatever, okay? Do your job." "Woah. Alright. That's a way to go about it. There's no need to be rude. Sorry to inconvenience you." "Yeah, you should be." The bandit turns to Vaughn again. "I will hit you." Vaughn flinches. "Please don't-" The masked bandit steps back, "Let's start over if you're not official drivers well, pretty sure I'm supposed to shoot you in the face." He holds up his gun, Tate is quick to draw his, but Fiona grabs his arm. "Whoa, hey! Hey, hey! There's no need for that. It's just a misunderstanding." Vaughn puts his hands up in surrender. "We'd love to race. It's been our dream, for like, ever." Fiona smiles wide. "Definitely. It's our favorite." Tate nods quickly going along with them. "Well, then I guess you're in the right place." Vaughn laughs," Vroom. Vroom." The bandit looks at the short man. "Yeah, that's what they sound like 'vroom, vroom'." Fiona nods and smiles wider. "I guess I'll go get your ride." The trio follows the man, stopping at an open supply crate. " Oh, hey. I got something that might interest you. If you're racing, you should look the part. I'm not gonna give them away for free but, uh you wanna look like a team." Fiona looks down at the choices, it's not much. She looks at the two pricier options, going for the free psycho mask instead. "Oooh, nice choice! Okay, if anyone asks, you didn't get these from me. Now get going! Your ride is waiting!" The trio put on their masks, Tate making sure no one sees his face for the split second the bandana is off. 

The group sits on a trailer that's transporting their ride to the gate. "I could've been on a nice clean space station right now, tabulating columns of beautiful numbers." Tate snorts. "What's your deal? You've barely talked the whole time and had your face covered." Tate shrugs at Vaughn. "My mask smells weird. Does your mask smell weird?" "Yeah." Tate nods. "Look, the important thing is that we're inside and away from that-" Fiona looks are the room full of psychos and bandits. "-bandit." Tate zones out as Vaughn starts to panic ramble to Fiona. After a while, the truck drops the chariot and motorcycles off at the gate. Fiona tries to reassure Vaughn while they wait, "Calm down. It's in the bag. If we win this race, we get the case." Vaughn huffs. "If? The deal of a lifetime is really only worth it if your remaining lifetime is more than twenty-four hours." Fiona puts her hands on Vaughn's shoulders, "Killer and I won't let anything happen to you, okay? We're gonna need you in there, and you need to just trust me. Trust us." Vaughn looks at the two and takes a few quick breaths. "Okay. Okay. Okay, let's do this." He revs the motorcycle and smiles. "See? Now you're having a good time. You just gotta let loose. Rev the engines on your life, Vaughn." He stops and looks at her confused. "Wait, what do you mean?" She waves her hand dismissively at him and puts her hands on her hips. "It doesn't matter. Just, you know, enjoy the moment." 

Bossanova speaks loudly over the intercom, "What's this?! Hoooo! Sounds like we're starting early!!" Fiona and Vaughn put on their masks, Tate sits on the motorcycle, Fiona gets up on the carriage. "You Pandorians are all crazy you know that right?" "You'll get used to it after a day." Tate jokes. Fiona stands confidently against the railing of the chariot. "Let's kick the tires and light some fires!" Tate looks back at her and laughs, shaking his head. "Let's try not to die." Vaughn takes a deep breath. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this was shorter than normal, It got really late and I'm extremely tired. My goal is to finish the rest of episode one tommorrow if I'm not busy.


	14. A Reunion and a New Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gets caught up in the death rally trying to get the case. Meanwhile, Tate has a "Reunion" with his old friends.

The gate to the arena opens up as Tate and Vaughn rev the engines on their motorcycles. "This is fine!" Fiona shouts. The group drives into the Death Rally and enter the circuit with the other bandit drivers. Tate watches as Bossanova descends from a crane lift. "And now -- maniacs, degenerates, and scumdogs -- it's time for what you've been waiting for: the first motorized killtacular even of Murder Rally twelve-thousand!" Tate watches as Vaughn struggles to focus on the track in front of him. In the middle of the track, Rhys, Sasha, and Zero are stood on a lift, "Yeah, no. I really don't like this." Bossanova's speakers echo his voice. "Also known as That Big Chariot Race Thing Where Everyone Dies! Whoever is the last mongrel still screaming at the end of the race will get to take home the one, the only," Rhys looks at Sasha worriedly, "We are so dead." "Eh, probably." Bossanova raises the case of money over his head, "...The Hyperion Mystery Case of Wonder!" At that moment the whole group looks up to the crane lift. "I really, really, really don't like this." Sasha loads her gun. Bossanova notices Zero stood next to Rhys and Sasha, "Zero," He lowers the case. "Actually, uh, the last freak still standing still gets the mystery box, but whoever kills that guy gets twenty g's cold hard cash." Bandits emerge from over the gate, jumping on top of crates. Zero jumps on a broken car, shooting at Bossanova. He blocks the bullet with the case causing it to fly near Sasha and Rhys. "I'm gonna drum you upside the head, shred ya to bits, and de-base your corpse, you plastic ninja freak." Bossanova uses his bass booster on his chest to blast Zer0 away. Rhys and Sasha crouch behind a car, Sasha spotting the case. "Shit there it is! Come on!" They sprint to the case but a psycho on a motorcycle drives by and grabs it instead. The psycho lets out a crazed laugh and turns around, driving straight for the pair.

Sasha pulls out her gun and shoots the bandit with a shock bullet, Rhys thankfully moving out of the way of the oncoming motorcycle. Two bandits and a psycho move in front of the case. "Mother fu-" The bandits start firing at them while the psycho picks up the case and runs in the opposite direction. Rhys and Sasha run to cover behind large shipping crates. Sasha shoots one of the bandits while the other dodges, Rhys crouching beside her. "Ahh, okay! We have to get out of here." "I'm open to ideas!" Sasha continues firing. Rhys suddenly gets a call on his robotic arm. "Oh, that's gotta be Yvette! Yes! She can send a Loader Bot!" Vasquez shows up on the holo call instead. "Oh, Professor Nakayama! You sound different." "Vasquez," Rhys says through gritted teeth. "Is-is that your boss?" Sasha shoots down another bandit. "You know what, I really don't have time for-" Vasquez cuts him off, "Then I'll make this fast. I know about the Vault key. Okay? I know. So now we've got a problem, a lotta Hyperion cheddar's missing." Sasha continues firing at the bandits, getting more and more annoyed. "Get off the phone, Rhys." Vasquez speaks again, "Look, no one else up here needs to know about this little faux pas, all right? So you bring back the money and, Uh, I'll tell you what, I'll give you your old job back. Before the janitor thing, the respectable job."

A bandit starts shooting and running towards Rhys but Sasha kills him. "We'll just have to blame the whole thing on your buddy Vaughn. Okay? I mean, it is his ID associated with the account transfer, and uh, And he's young-ish. He'll bounce back." Rhys scoffs, "I don't think so. Vaughn's my friend." Vasquez smirks. "Awwww. That's just-I gotta tell ya, that's just adorable. That just warms the cockles. But I got a feeling you're gonna wanna hear what I'm offering first." Sasha shoots another bandit, "Rhys just hang up." Vasquez's annoying voice pipes up again, " Look. I admit it. You screwed me. You really did. Cool moves, Rhys. Cool moves. Hyperion will want my dick in a sling. So... you get your cybernetic rear up here with the money, and I'll split it with you, fifty-fifty. You scratch my nuts, I scratch yours, that kind of thing. So Vaughn takes the fall and the two of us? We've got girls sniffing shnae out of our armpits. Or whatever. I don't-I don't know what you're into." Rhys grinds his teeth and hangs up. "Huh. I really thought you'd give him up. Glad you hung up though, his voice is absolutely annoying." "Oh, you heard all that?" Sasha smirks, "Oh yeah." 

After minutes of running back and forth to get the case, Bossanova uses his bass booster again, causing the case to fly onto the track. Conveniently it lands on the truck next to Fiona, Tate, and Vaughn. Fiona takes her mask off and spots the case, "The case!" Two psychos on a motorcycle drive up to them, one of them jumping onto the carriage. Fiona puts her mask back on just as a midget psycho jumps onto her back. "Ungh!" Fiona grunts as she struggles to get the psycho off of her. Vaughn looks over at the masked Tate, "Get up there and help her!" Tate looks back at Fiona. "Vaughn I can't this thing will crash!" Vaughn huffs. Fiona throws the midget psycho off of her and at the climbing psycho. The psychos fly off the carriage, rolling into a bandit vehicle behind them, causing it and a motorcycle to crash into each other. Tate looks over to see the only other vehicle left. "Guys! The case!" "What?" Vaughn looks over at him. "The money's on that truck!" The truck drives closer to their chariot, "I see it!" Fiona yells. "How? I can't see a damn thing in this!" Vaughn struggles to pull up his mask. The bandit on the truck holds up his ax and yells, "Kill them!" Vaughn, still struggling with his mask, looks around. "What? What is it? Is it bad?" The crane on the other truck starts to swing around, "Just drive!" Tate yells. Fiona ducks under the crane, Vaughn finally pulling up the stupid mask and seeing the case on the truck. "Fiona!" "Guys," "Getting closer!" Tate and Vaughn steer the chariot closer to the truck. A bandit that's driving the truck pulls out a shotgun and shoots at the trio. "They never stop shooting on this planet, do they?" The bandit aims at Fiona, she ducks just barely missing the bullet. The bandit fires at Tate and Vaughn again, Tate and Vaughn thankfully ducking. "OH GOD! Fiona hurry up, get the case!" A bandit yells from the back of the truck, "Get the little one!" Two psychos jump onto Tate and Vaughn. Tate's mask gets knocked off as knocks the psycho off of him and grabs his ax. "Oh shit!" The other psycho swings at Vaughn but he ducks and slides sideways off the seat. "Fiona, get the case!" He dodges the psycho's swings, "What. Are. You. Doing?!" Tate swings the ax into the psycho's head, blood splattering on Vaughn as he pushes the body off him. "Thanks- wait, Tate?! I thought yo-" "Yeah I know just focus. Fiona get the damn case!" 

A psycho picks up the case and hands it to the driver. "I got it!" Vaughn pulls them closer to the truck. Fiona jumps to the truck nearly falling off. "Tate!" Vaughn kicks his motorcycle and separates the two from the chariot. Tate stands up quickly and jumps onto the truck, watching as the chariot crashes into the crashed vehicle from earlier. Fiona pulls off her mask and helps Tate up. Fiona turns to see a psycho is about to swing at them with a hatchet. They both dodge it. The psycho then tackles Fiona and tries to kill her. "Just stop and let me bite your ears off!" Another psycho charges at Tate, he moves out of the way, watching its body roll onto the track. Fiona's hat flies off as she's pinned down. Vaughn drives up to them, "Hand me the ax!" Tate yells. "Do I look like the type of guy that uses an ax?" Tate groans, "I'm using it!" Vaughn grabs the ax and gives it to him. Tate axes the psycho in the head, killing him and pushing him off Fiona, causing him to fall off the truck. Vaughn shudders. "Yup, just helped you kill a guy, no big deal, there."

Tate pulls Fiona up. Vaughn drives faster, pulling around the truck, "Where are you going?" Tate and Fiona yell in sync. "I'm getting the case." Vaughn pulls to the passenger side of the truck, seeing the case seated next to the driver. A psycho on a motorcycle chases Vaughn. "AAHHHH!" "FEEL MY DAGGERBONES!" The psycho yells as he swings at Vaughn. He stands up and jumps into the passenger seat of the truck, losing his motorcycle. Meanwhile, three motorcycle psychos jump onto the back of the truck to attack Fiona and Tate. Tate wrestles with one psycho as Fiona messes with the controls for the crane. The crane swings around, "Duck!" Fiona yells and ducks as Tate follows her moves. The crane swings around, knocking two psychos off the back. One psycho rolls under the wheel, the whole vehicle jumping slightly, and Vaughn accidentally shooting the driver. The driver falls out and the truck begins to shake without a driver, knocking Fiona and Tate down. Vaughn gets into the truck and regains control, Fiona gets back up but the swinging crane hits Fiona and almost knocks her off. Tate pulls her back up. 

"I'm gonna kill you till you die from it!" The psycho struggles with Fiona trying to push her off. Tate helps by pushing him into the control pad, causing the crane to rise up. Zer0 lands right next to Fiona, Tate, and the psycho and jumps on top of the crane. The pair watches Zer0 jump and kick Bossanova off his lift as the truck's crane grabs the lift itself, sending the truck flying up. Tate jumps onto the cab of the truck and climbs inside next to Vaughn. They try to grab the case but can't reach it. The psycho flies off the truck, "Fiona jump on!" Tate yells. Miraculously, Felix appears, driving the caravan, manages to open his window, and grab the falling case just in time. Fiona jumps off the tilted-upward truck and onto the caravan just in time. Vaughn looks over to Tate, "Did she make it?" Tate looks back to see Fiona climbing into the caravan. "Yeah, pull over here. I think Rhys and Sasha are in the middle." Vaughn drives down a ramp and pulls into the middle circle. The pair jump out and run over to Rhys and Sasha. Sasha runs to Tate, "Where's Fi?" "In the caravan with Felix, he got the money." Rhys hugs Vaughn and makes sure he's alright. "Um, Rhys look." Vaughn points at Tate. "Holy fuck, Tate." Tate calms Sasha down and looks over at Vaughn and Rhys who are staring him down. "What are they looking at?" "Cover's been blown I guess." Sasha gives a confused look.

Tate and Rhys look at each other sharing a sad look. "Why did you never call? Or message?" Tate goes to speak but is cut off by a loud crash. The group looks over at the crashed caravan, the wheels spinning unable to drive. "Are they-" They see Felix begin to climb out of the crashed caravan. Fiona following him out and sticking her head out of the window. "What is he doing?" Sasha looks upset as Felix puts his foot to the front wheel of the caravan, about to kick it down. "I don't know." Felix kicks the caravan along with Fiona down the hill. "Tell Hyperion they can track their fancy case all they want, but I'm taking the money," Felix announces as he opens the case. The case begins to beep loudly, "Felix, it's booby-trapped!" Felix tosses the case into the air and it explodes. The group looks up, watching the burnt money pieces fall from the sky. "Ah, no! No no! Okay, this is officially the worst day ever." Rhys runs around looking up at the sad display around him. 

After a few minutes and Zero leaves the group look at the destroyed arena. Vaughn walks up to Rhys, Tate wanting to join. Rhys puts his hand on Vaughn's shoulder and they smile at each other. They see Fiona walk up to Sasha nearby. "Sasha, about what happened with Felix-" "Stop! Okay? I don't want to talk about it now." Sasha walks away, Tate comforts Fiona the best he can. Sasha bends down to pick up some loot. "So we have no money, no Vault Key. Nothing." She turns to Rhys. "It's over. I mean, what-what do we even do now?" Sasha and Tate start picking up loot scattered around them. "Check the bodies. Take anything valuable." "It's not like there's going to be ten million dollars worth of-" Sasha stands up and turns to Vaughn, "You have any better ideas?" Vaughn shakes his head as he and Rhys look at each other. Fiona finds her hat on the ground, putting it on. "You came to Pandora, now you get to live like we do." Tate somberly picks up a shitty pistol, "Wait for more powerful people to kill each other and then take their stuff." Rhys gives Tate a sad look. "If you're gonna be on Pandora you need to get used to it." The group starts picking up more shitty loot. "This junk can't be worth that much." Vaughn picks up a broken shield before dropping it. Sasha points to a pistol on the ground across from them. "That pistol over there's worth at least a hundred bucks." Rhys scoffs and walks to the wrecked crane lift. "Good, we just need a hundred thousand more of those and we're all set." Sasha rolls her eyes. Suddenly a Loader Bot drops from the sky. "Righteous father! I have found you!" The loader bot puts a thumbs up directed at Rhys. The rubble beneath Rhys begins to shift, the floor quickly caving in. "Rhys!" Vaughn and Tate yell in unison. "Try to roll with the fall!" Loader bot announces. 

Vaughn calls down to Rhys. "Rhys! Are you dead? If you're dead, say something." Rhys groans and stands up, walking under the hole he fell through. "Stay up there, and be careful. The floor is, unstable." Fiona snorts. "Oh yeah, we kinda figured that out." Tate looks down at Rhys worriedly. "I think, I'm okay." Sasha calls down to Rhys. "Good. 'Cause, it doesn't look like there's a safe way down to help you. So, figure a way out of there." Tate calls down to Rhys, "What's down there? Maybe there's something valuable." Rhys steps forward looking around but gets startled by the building settling. "Uh. There's a bunch of old Atlas prototype stuff, some tech, there's like a few weapons and-" "Where?" Sasha excitedly jumps down the hole onto some stairs. Rhys chuckles, "Too dangerous, huh?" Sasha walks over to a cabinet and pushes a button watching as an SMG emerges from the automatic cabinet. "No way! Haahahaha!" She laughs happily as she picks up the gun. "The Atlas Silver! Ah! One of the rarest SMGs on Pandora!" The rest of the group, except for Loader Bot, safely walks down a ramp made from rubble. Vaughn walks past Rhys to another yellow button. "These models were never even released!" Sasha jumps up and down happily.

Vaughn pushes the button on the wall, another cabinet opens to reveal a rare watch. "Whoa! Hey!" He puts it on. "A retro Atlasio!" He walks over excitedly to Rhys and Tate. "I thought these things were just a rumor." He holds up his arm. "Look, look look look look. It tells time, and it's a calculator. Just give me a math problem, just give me a math problem." Tate chuckles at Vaughn's excitement. He really missed being around them, the joy the pair brought Tate was something he hadn't felt in a very long time. Fiona walks over to Vaughn, "Is it worth a lot of money?" "Sort of. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you know it's not ten million dollars worth, but, ah man, to the right people. Atlas tech in mint condition like this is worth a hell of a lot to collectors. Some Hyperion execs buy it just to put it on their trophy shelves and gloat. And unreleased prototypes at that. I mean, who knows what this is worth?!" Tate smiles at Vaughn before walking to a counter. "What's this?" Tate picks up a small purple ring. He looks at the engraving on the inside band, 'The Purple Atlas'. He slips it on his flesh middle finger, a purple shield displaying over his whole body before disappearing. "Oh shit cool."

"All right, Sasha, let's grab what we can and get out of here. Quickly. No telling when those bandits will be back." Sasha nods still playing around with her new gun. "We'd better do the same, guys." Vaughn looks at Rhys and Tate. Rhys notices a button on the wall. He signals to Fiona and they both walk up to it. "Would you like to do the honors?" "It's the last one, it's only right for us both to reveal it, that's the best part." "Yeah, I was kinda hoping you'd say that." Fiona and Rhys press the button together. "Alright, big money." The button causes the trim along the wall leading to the floor to glow orange and a machine to pop up from the Atlas logo on the floor. Rhys and Fiona walk over to it, Vaughn, Tate, and Sasha standing cautiously behind them. On it, two pieces of weirdly shaped metal float under glowing light. Rhys and Fiona look at each other. An automated voice startles the group. "RESET. IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED." Rhys looked over at Fiona. "So, is it just me, or does that look-" "Incredibly valuable? Yeah. And there's two of them so I don't have to stab you." She smirks. "That's a bonus. I call the bigger half." Rhys grabs the bigger half and Fiona grabs the smaller half. They pull them out of the machine, Rhys rotating his piece in his hands. "What is it?" Tate asks. "No idea." "Well, we got what we came for, so let's go, Sasha. Tate, you can join if you'd-" The two pieces suddenly force themselves together, and the combined piece hovers in the air. "Hey, Vaughn can you see if there's a crowbar lying around? We're gonna have to pry these apart before we-" The floating metal suddenly lights up, showing the Gortys Protocol logo. It then shows a large map of Pandora. "Oh fuck." The scene before Tate seems all too familiar. The rest of the group all look at the map amazed. A marker on the map shows the Vault symbol. "Is that, a map?" Tate sighs. "To a vault to my knowledge." 

"So he's the brains of the outfit. 'T-t-to a vault to my knowledge'. No shit to a vault. The vault mark is all over it." Rhys looks around him unable to find out where the familiar voice is coming from. Tate looks over at the jittery Rhys. "This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Gortys Project, and it's gonna lead us to a vault." Rhys looks at his friends noticing how they are fazed by the voice. Rhys feels a small shock on his shoulder. "And then I'll probably kill you." Rhys turns his head and is met with a blue, pixelated version of Handsome Jack. Rhys jumps and screams, startling the rest of the group. "What? What is it?" "I-uh-I." Fiona looks at Vaughn who just shrugs. "Rhys?" Tate tries to get the man's attention. "Rhys? Buddy? You, uh, you alright?" Rhys looks around weirdly, frightened. "You're uh, you're acting kinda weird, Rhys, weirder than usual." Fiona crosses her arms. "Rhys is just excited," Rhys walks past the group still looking frightened. "He's alright-he-Y'know, just probably needs some air." Rhys suddenly runs upstairs. "So, upstairs. Where there's more air. Cause it's, higher, and, Hey, what's up with that map?" Vaughn distracts the girls but Tate keeps an eye on his suddenly jittery friend. The group, excluding Rhys, looks up at the map. "Computer! Enhance!" "Please stop, Sasha." "Come on, I've almost got it." "That's not-That doesn't do anything. What you're doing." Tate sighs and chuckles softly. "Enhance computer images!" Vaughn facepalms. "Stop it! This is not how computers work! Where are you from? You-you, don't just yell "enhance" at the screen!" Sasha goes to touch the floating core, "Maybe I can bring up a legend on this thing." It shocks her. The map shuts down and the cores fall to the ground in two pieces. Vaughn walks over concerned, "I'm okay." He crouches down, looking intently at the cores. "Did you break it?" Sasha rolls her eyes. Vaughn tries to grab the big piece, "Vaughn I wouldn't-" Tate tries to protest but he grabs it anyway and it shocks him. Fiona looks down at the pieces, "Go ahead, Fiona. Pick it up." "Fiona, you touched it once already." Tate nods, "Yeah, she'll be fine. Go ahead, Fiona." Fiona picks up the small Gortys core piece. "I don't understand."

"You and Rhys are the only ones it didn't shock. Maybe they're somehow imprinted on you." Vaughn looks at the cores in awe. "Vintage Atlas. Incredible." A machine behind them suddenly comes on. Another automated voice comes to life. "Retinal Scanner Online. Security protocol engaged. Retinal scan required." They all turn to the machine, cautiously walking to it. "Please step forward and identify yourself." Sasha looks at Fiona, "Maybe we should get out while we have the chance." Tate sighs again, "Or, we could stay. Look at all the cool shit in here and find out how to get to the vault that the map was clearly leading us to." Vaughn crosses his arms and looks at Tate. "How do you know it's leading us to a vault?" "Because the last vault mission I did, started with a map just like that one we saw." Fiona pipes up, "Killer-Sorry I mean Tate, is right. This could be huge for us. Anything in that vault could be worth a lot more than ten million dollars." Fiona tries the retinal scanner but it fails, while she looks around the room for an answer, Tate and Vaughn take a moment to talk. "Hey Tate," Vaughn approaches Tate who's resting against one of the counters. "Yeah what's up?" "Why," Vaughn pushes up his glasses. "Why did you never call or message?" Tate sighs. "I was going to. I left that note with the intention I'd message you guys from where ever I was going." He runs his hand through his hair. "I didn't know where I was going when I left honestly. I just wanted to get off Helios." His voice lowers to a whisper. "I didn't plan on coming to Pandora, it was just the fastest way off that station. When I got here I caught up with Moxxi, grieved in a...bad way, and made a name for myself. Only a small handful of people know who I used to work for." "Why were you so broken up about Jack?" Before Tate could really answer Fiona called them over to help her with the body of General Pollux. 

On Rhys' end, when he noticed Handsome Jack next to him you could say he was pretty terrified. Blue, pixelated Jack looks at Rhys, "Okay, here's what's gonna happen." He puts his hands on Rhys' shoulders. "You, uh, I'm sorry. Wh-what's your name again? Come on. Spit it out, Dum-Dum. I don't have all day." "I-uh-I" Jack looks down at the Hyperion logo on Rhys' vest. "Oh. Good. You work for me. I thought, I thought I was gonna have to get violent there for a second. Or more violent." Jack waves a blue hand at Rhys, walking up the stairs. "Come on! Time's a-wasting! No turrets, no automated defenses, it's like Atlas is just BEGGING us to take it." Jack makes it to the second floor, Rhys slowly following behind. "Come on, cupcake, what's the hold-up?" Rhys makes it to the top of the stairs trying to take a look back but Jack was impatient as always. "GET OVER HERE!" Jack yells in a distorted voice. Rhys rushes over to him still just as terrified as he was back on Helios. Jack begins to walk down a corridor. "Yeah, I know. I'm your hero, you're my biggest fan, blah blah blah. Welcome to the club. Just try not to wet yourself, kid. You might short something out down there." Rhys slowly follows behind him. "Alright, take notes, kiddo. I'm not one to repeat myself. Our first step is secure the area. Not enough to attract bandits, just enough to keep out the gawkers. Oh, uh, then we're gonna need a dropship to get this tech out of here," Jack rambles on, Rhys taking a small step toward him. " Ja- wha... ha... ha... No. No, this is impossible. Jack, you're... you're dead." Jack turns around, ready to attack."Ahhh... I'm "dead?" I'm sorry, what's that supposed to mean?" He marches up to Rhys. "Are you, threatening me, little man?" Jack reaches his hand back, ready to strike. "Wha- no no no no no no!" Jack strikes his hand at Rhys' neck only for it to phase through him. Rhys still screams, startling the group below. "Oh, shut, up." He tries to touch Rhys again, but his hand goes through him again. "Are you screaming because you're in pain, or are you just freaking out 'cause this is really weird? 'Cause, it is, it is weird." "Would you please stop doing that?"

Jack tries to touch Rhys' face. "This is just, doesn't make any sense." Rhys dodges Jack. "Stand still damn it!" "Stop doing that!" Jack crosses his arms. " I-it's, like I told you: Handsome Jack, is dead." Jack walks backward slowly before turning around. "No no no no no no no no. That's impossible. I, I can't, die. That's, That's-No no, that's stupid. No way. What about-" Rhys scratches his neck awkwardly, "Uff, I've never had to tell someone they died before, so, I-sorry? That must suck?" Jack turns around facing him. "No no no, he-heroes don't die. Especially not before the story gets to the good part. This doesn't make any sense." "No. No. No. No. No. No. I'm, I'm Handsome Jack! I don't die. And there's too much left to do. I couldn't have left him alone. N-not happening. Not happening!" Jack starts walking toward Rhys. Rhys starts backing away from him. "Hey, come here, cupcake. Just let me try to rip your throat out one more time. Just one more time. Come here." He lurches at Rhys. "What? No-no!" "I, you see, I think I just gotta be quicker about it. Ehh, that's what it is." He tries to grab at him again. "Stand still damn it! Don't make this harder on yourself. Come here!" Rhys backs away from Jack. "Jack, you're dead. Deal with it." Jack laughs, still moving toward Rhys. "Killing people, that's how I deal with things. Come on, just, just-just let it happen." Jack reaches out again before stopping to laugh. "Ha, you so stupid! Watch your head, dickfa-" Rhys hits the back of his head on a girder, causing Jack to disappear. "Do you need our help?" Fiona calls up to him. Rhys trips over the railing and falls onto some computers. The group looks down at Rhys, shocked. "Rhys!" Vaughn and Tate rush over to him. Rhys sits up holding his head. "So. Much. Pain. Why am I, still conscious. I don't understand." "Rhys. Hey. You alright?" Tate helps Rhys up. "What the hell are you doing? You're acting, strange. Is everything okay?" Vaughn said. "I-I think I'm losing it." Vaughn and Tate look at each other, concerned for their friend. "Losing what?" "My mind, guys, my mind." Vaughn stands up, Tate pulling Rhys up with him. "Right... okay, well, you had quite a spill there... let's just get you up off this thing." "You know, these fumes can't possibly be helping," Tate says, trying to come up with a reason Rhys is acting so strange. Rhys walks over to the big Gortys core piece and picks it up. He then looks up through the hole in the ceiling, seeing two moonshots firing over them. "Ohh, I must be pretty out of it... I'm seeing stars, shooting stars." Fiona looks at Tate, "Moonshots." "Fucking Moonshots." Sasha throws her hands up, "Moonshots. Really? Moonshots?" "We need to get out of here!" Vaughn gives Tate a worried look. Rhys looks up and sees Loader Bot looking down at them.

Loader Bot pulls each of them out of the hole, setting Rhys down last. "Thanks." Rhys and Vaughn start running while looking up at the sky. They run to the caravan, which Fiona, Sasha, and Tate are already in. "Get in! We gotta go!" The pair hurry into the caravan quickly shutting the door behind them. The caravan speeds out of the arena, into the wasteland as more moonshots come down from Helios. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay Jack is back! I hope this longer chapter makes up for the last chapter being so short. Though the main focus of the story will still be on Tate, Rhys' side will be shown a lot too. Now that Jack is with him, he'll be learning more about what happened between Jack and Tate when Jack was alive.


End file.
